T.»   vt 

PBINCETOIT 
fctC*  DEC  \bc* 

THSOLOGIC: 


BX  5131    .B55  1839 
Blunt,  Henry,  1794-1843. 
Discourses  on  some  of  the 
doctrinal  articles  of  the 


V 


DISCOURSES 

ON"  SOME  OF 

THE  DOCTRINAL  ARTICLES 

OF  THE 

CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 

ALSO, 

LECTURES 

ON  THE 

HISTORY  OF  SAINT  PETER. 

BY  THE  REV.  HENRY  BLUNT,  A.M., 

RECTOR  OF  STREATHAM,  SURREY  ; 
LATE  FELLOW  OF  PEMBROKE  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE;  AND  CHAPLAIN  TO 
HIS  GRACE  THE  DUKE  OF  RICHMOND. 

FIRST  AMERICAN,  FROM  THE  LAST  LONDON  EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
HOOKER   AND  CLAXTON. 
1839. 


PREFACE. 


It  was  long  since  observed  by  an  eminent  author,  that  he 
lived  in  an  age  in  which  it  was  "  criminal  to  be  moderate.'' 
The  writer  of  the  following  pages,  would  fain  believe,  that 
his  lot  has  been  cast  in  an  age,  when  the  virtue  of  modera- 
tion, is  beginning  to  be  more  justly  appreciated  ;  when  there 
is,  among  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England  at  lea-st. 
an  increasing  desire,  to  merge  their  common  differences,  and 
to  draw  more  closely  together,  in  the  defence,  and  in  the 
practice,  of  their  common  Christianity.  While,  therefore, 
he  feels  the  greatest  diffidence,  in  venturing  to  publish  upon 
such  a  subject  as  that  of  the  present  work,  he  feels  also  the 
greatest  confidence,  that  the  attempt  will  be  received  in  the 
same  spirit  of  candour  and  moderation,  with  which  he  trust:- 
it  was  undertaken.  It  is  impossible,  in  treating  upon  subjects 
so  diverse,  and  so  difficult,  as  those  embraced  by  the  Articles 
of  our  Church,  not,  in  some  instances  at  least,  to  cross  the 
prejudices,  and  to  contravene  the  opinions,  probably  of  all  his 
readers.  When  this  is  the  case,  the  author  hopes  that  he 
shall  be  found  speaking  with  the  modesty  which  becomes 
him,  and  never  expecting  the  acquiescence  of  the  reader,  one 


iv 


PREFACE. 


syllable  beyond  the  point,  to  which  he  is  accompanied,  by  the 
plain,  and  undeniable  statements,  of  the  Word  of  God. 

So  far  as  the  author  knows  himself,  he  believes,  that  he 
is  not  entrammelled,  by  any  human  system,  but  that  he  has 
endeavoured  to  bear  in  mind  continually  that  injunction  of 
our  Church,  that,  "  No  man  shall  either  print  or  preach  to 
draw  the  Article  aside  any  way,  but  shall  submit  to  it  in  the 
plain,  and  full  meaning  thereof,  and  shall  not  put  his  own 
sense,  or  comment,  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  Article,  but 
shall  take  it  in  the  literal  and  grammatical  sense."*  That 
this  has  been  his  constant  endeavour  he  is  certain ;  that  he 
has  never  failed  in  fulfilling  it,  he  will  not  say ;  but  of  this 
he  is  sure,  that,  should  it  appear  to  others,  that  he  has  been 
mistaken,  he  will  carefully  re-consider  any  disputable  point, 
and  without  hesitation  retract,  what  he  has  here  advanced,  if 
convinced,  that  he  has,  however  undesignedly,  put  a  false 
gloss  upon  the  Article,  or  substituted  "  his  own  sense  or  com- 
ment," for  the  opinion  of  the  Church. 

After  having  for  years,  mnst  cordially  and  unreservedly 
received  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England  as  entirely 
agreeable  to  the  inspired  Word  of  God,  the  author  has  risen 
from  this  deliberate  review  of  them,  with  his  mind  more 
deeply  than  ever  impressed  by  the  piety  and  sagacity  of  the 
holy  men  who  compiled  them,  and  with  his  heart  more  than 
ever  filled  with  gratitude  to  God  that  his  lot  has  been  cast 
in  the  Church  to  which  he  belongs.  Of  this  Church,  he  feels 
convinced  that  the  highest  ornament  and  the  strongest  bul- 
wark, are  to  be  found,  not  in  the  rank,  and  learning,  and  holi- 

*  Rubric  prefixed  to  the  Articles. 


PREFACE. 


iiess  of  her  prelates,  not  in  the  activity  and  piety  of  her 
clergy,  not  in  the  devotedness  of  the  great  body  of  her  true 
disciples  to  her  best  and  spiritual  interests,  but  in  the  fact, 
that  every  great  and  vital  truth  of  the  Word  of  God,  is  em- 
bodied in  her  unequalled  Liturgy,  and  her  invaluable  Articles, 
which  continue  from  generation  to  generation,  instrumentally, 
to  lead  her  children  into  the  paths  of  peace,  and  to  educate 
them  for  the  many  mansions  of  their  Father's  house. 

While  these  remain  essentially  unaltered,  we  need  enter- 
tain no  fears  for  the  safety  of  our  Church  ;  there  is  a  vitality 
in  them  which,  in  times  gone  by,  has  enabled  her  to  survive 
when  oppressed  by  the  heaviest  of  all  burdens,  even  the  dead- 
ness  of  her  own  nominal  followers ;  and  there  is  buoyancy 
in  them,  which,  in  times  to  come,  will  cause  her  ark  to  float 
upon  the  waters  of  that  moral  deluge,  that  may  even  now  be 
gathering  round  her,  but  which  will  only  lift  her  the  higher 
above  the  rocks  and  quicksands  of  earth,  and  raise  her  the 
nearer  to  the  heaven  to  which  she  points. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  work  the  writer  has  attempted 
to  unite  the  most  simple  explanatory  statements,  with  the 
most  direct  appeals  to  the  conscience,  and  to  the  heart. 
Where  he  has  differed  from  the  acknowledged  authorities, 
upon  any  of  the  subjects  of  which  he  treats,  he  has  generally 
contented  himself  with  giving  the  Scriptural  arguments  for 
the  difference.  It  would  not  have  been  difficult  to  have 
corroborated  most  of  his  statements  by  the  declarations  of 
the  early  Reformers,  especially  Luther  and  Melancthon,  and 
that  truly  great,  and  much  misrepresented  man,  Archbishop 
Cranmer ;  but  this  would  have  been  to  have  changed  the 
1* 


VI 


PREFACE. 


character  of  the  work,  and  to  have  thrown  an  air  of  preten- 
sion over  that  which  the  writer  only  desired  to  make  plain, 
perspicuous  and  useful.  It  will  be  seen,  that  the  author 
does  not  consider  that  the  Articles  are  grounded  upon  the 
doctrines  which  are  strictly  Calvinistic ;  i.  e.,  such  doctrines 
as  were  held  by  Calvin,  but  rejected  by  the  other  great  lights 
of  the  blessed  Reformation,  Rather  he  is  of  opinion  that 
they  are  chiefly  founded  upon  the  views  which  the  immortal 
Luther,  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  was  led  to  take  of  all 
the  most  important  doctrines  of  the  Divine  Word  ;  although, 
at  the  same  time,  he  fully  agrees  with  Bishop  Tomline,  that 
the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  are  neither  Lutheran, 
nor  Calvinistic,  nor  Arminian,-—  but  Scriptural. 

It  was  to  the  younger  members  of  his  congregation  that 
the  author  particularly  addressed  these  Discourses ;  and  it  is 
to  the  young  that  he  more  especially  reverts  while  commit- 
ting them  to  the  press.  His  earnest  prayer  is,  that  this  feeble 
effort  may  be  blessed  to  the  benefit  of  that  class  of  his  readers 
by  proving  effectual,  through  Divine  grace,  to  "  strengthen, 
establish,  settle"  them,  in  all  those  great  and  vital  points, 
which  concern  the  well-being  of  their  souls  in  time  and  inj 
eternity,  and  by  making  them  such  "  lively  members1'  of  the 
Church  here  below,  that  they  shall  finally,  not  be  excluded 
from  "  the  Church  of  the  First-born,  whose  names  are  writ' 
ten  in  heaven." 


CONTENTS, 


DOCTRINAL  ARTICLES. 


DISCOURSE  I. 
On  "  Article  IX.  Original,  or  Birth  Sin"  13 

DISCOURSE  II. 
On  «  Article  X.  Of  Free  Will"  34 

DISCOURSE  III. 
On  "  Article  XI.  Of  the  Justification  of  Man"    ...  56 

DISCOURSE  IV. 
On  "  Article  XII.  Of  Good  Works."—"  Article  XIII. 
Of  Works  before  Justification."—"  Article  XIV.  Of 
Works  of  Supererogation"  79 

DISCOURSE  V. 

On  "  Article  XV.  Of  Christ  alone  without  Sin." — "  Ar- 
ticle XVI.  Of  Sin  after  Baptism."—"  Article  XVIII. 
Of  obtaining  Eternal  Salvation  only  by  the  Name  of 
Christ"   98 


viii  CONTENTS. 

DISCOURSE  VI. 
On  "  Article  XVII.  Of  Predestination  and  Election"   .  118 

DISCOURSE  VII. 
On  "  Article  XXVII.  Of  Baptism"  144 

DISCOURSE  VIII. 
On  «  Article  XXVIII.  Of  the  Lord's  Supper"     ...  165 

DISCOURSE  IX. 

On  the  duty  of  every  Christian  Government  to  provide 
Christian  Instruction,  and  to  maintain  Christian  Wor- 
ship"  ia5 


HISTORY  OF  SAINT  PETER. 

LECTURE  I. 
Peter  brought  by  Andrew  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  His 
confession  of  sinfulness  .211 

LECTURE  II. 
Peter  walking  upon  the  water  227 

LECTURE  III. 

Peter's  confession  of  faith.    His  answer  to  the  inquiry, 
"  Will  ye  also  go  away  ?"  242 


CONTENTS.  EI 

LECTURE  IV. 
Peter  rebuking  Christ.    Present  at  the  Transfiguration  260 

LECTURE  V. 

Peter's  inquiry,  "  What  shall  we  have  therefore  ?"  Our 
Lord's  reply  to  this  inquiry.  The  second  coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  277 

LECTURE  VI. 
Peter  refuses  to  have  his  feet  washed  by  Christ  .    .    .  293 

LECTURE  VII. 
Peter  present  at  our  Lord's  agony  314 

LECTURE  VIII. 
Peter's  denial  of  his  Lord.    Peter's  repentance  .    .    .  3$1 

LECTURE  IX. 

Peter's  interview  with  his  risen  Saviour.   Peter's  death  348 


DISCOURSES 

ON  SOME  OF 

THE  DOCTRINAL  ARTICLES 

OF  THE 

CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND. 


DISCOURSES. 


DISCOURSE  I. 

PSALM  LL  5. 

"  Behold  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  my  mother 
conceive  me." 

At  the  present  moment,  when  the  prospects  of 
the  Church  of  England  form  the  subject  of  conver- 
sation among  many,  and  of  deep  and  earnest 
thoughtfulness  and  prayer  with  not  a  few,  every 
thing  belonging  to  her  acquires  an  additional  inte- 
rest, and  comes  home  to  the  hearts  of  her  trcie 
members  with  peculiar  force. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  the  duty  of  her 
ministers  to  improve  this  opportunity,  and  to  en- 
deavour, while  men  are  contending  for  her  exter- 
nals— which,  important  though  they  be,  will  bear  no 
comparison  with  her  inward  and  spiritual  well- 
being — to  lead  their  people  to  a  better  acquaintance 
with,  and  a  deeper  interest  in,  her  truly  apostolical 
2 


14 


DISCOURSE  I. 


constitution  and  her  accurately  scriptural  formula- 
ries. It  is  indeed  painful  to  think  how  few,  com- 
paratively, even  among  the  members  of  our  Church, 
are  intimately  acquainted  with  those  invaluable 
documents,  those  bulwarks  of  our  faith,  the  Articles 
and  Homilies  !  So  unquestionable  is  this  ignorance, 
that  nothing  is  more  common  than  to  hear  men 
who  are  nominally  her  members,  actually  deny  in 
conversation  some  of  those  great  truths  which  the 
holiest  of  her  confessors  and  martyrs  sealed  with 
their  blood  ;  which  she  has  herself  distinctly  assert- 
ed, and  even  laid  as  the  foundation  upon  which  all 
her  superstructure  of  services  and  offices  is  built  ; 
and,  moreover,  which  are  among  the  most  promi- 
nent, most  influential,  most  essential  to  the  salvation 
of  the  soul  of  the  sinner,  of  any  that  are  to  be  found 
in  the  revelation  of  God. 

Having,  then,  an  earnest  desire  that  none  should 
content  themselves  with  a  nominal  or  an  ignorant 
adherence  to  a  Church,  of  which  it  may  be  truly 
said,  that  the  better  it  is  understood,  the  more  deep- 
ly does  it  entrench  itself  in  the  judgment  and  in  the 
hearts  of  its  members ;  and  having  a  still  stronger 
anxiety,  that  of  the  souls  committed  to  our  charge 
none  should  be  "destroyed  for  lack  of  knowledge,"* 

*  Hosea  iv.  6. 


ARTICLE  IX. 


15 


I  purpose  bringing  before  you  in  succession  some 
of  the  most  important  doctrinal  Articles  of  our 
Church ;  believing  that,  although  to  many  these 
Discourses  may,  and  I  fear  must  be,  extremely  de- 
ficient in  the  interest  which  other  subjects  might 
supply,  and  that  to  some  they  will  be  a  mere  re- 
capitulation of  well-known  truths,  they  may  be 
made,  especially  to  the  younger  and  inquiring 
members  of  our  congregation,  the  means,  under 
God,  of  informing,  strengthening,  establishing,  set- 
tling them  in  "  the  things  belonging  to  their  peace," 
and  of  enabling  them  to  be  "  ready  always  to  give 
an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  them  a  reason 
of  the  hope  that  is  in  them."* 

Before  we  speak  upon  the  subject  of  that  par- 
ticular Article  which  we  have  selected  for  this 
morning's  consideration,  it  may  be  well,  very  short- 
ly, to  mention  the  origin  of  this  portion  of  the  for- 
mularies of  our  Church. 

At  the  time  of  the  blessed  Reformation,  the  dif- 
ferent Churches  wThich  separated  themselves  from 
communion  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  deemed  it 
advisable  to  publish  Confessions  of  their  Faith.  Ac- 
cordingly, Edward  the  Sixth  published,  by  his 
royal  authority,  forty-two  Articles,  "  agreed  upon," 

*  1  Peter  iii.  15. 


16 


DISCOURSE  I. 


as  it  is  stated,  "  by  the  Bishops  and  other  learned 
and  good  men  in  the  Convocation  held  at  London, 
in  the  year  1552,  to  root  out  the  discord  of  opinions, 
and  establish  the  agreement  of  true  religion." 
These  Articles  were  repealed  by  Queen  Mary, 
but  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  the  beginning  of  her  reign, 
established  the  present  Thirty-nine  Articles,  which 
were  founded  upon  the  original  forty-two  Articles, 
from  which  they  do  not  greatly  or  essentially  differ. 
Cranmer  and  Ridley*  are  believed  to  have  been  the 
chief  framers  of  the  original  Articles,  and  it  is  cer- 
tainly not  too  much  to  assert,  that,  for  a  deep  and 
thorough  knowledge  of  Scripture,  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  opinions  and  tenets  of  the 
early  Christians,  and,  above  all,  fpr  the  modera- 
tion and  caution,  the  charity  and  perspicuity  which 
pervade  them,  they  will  bear  comparison  with  any 
uninspired  writings  which  have  ever  yet  been  given 
to  the  world. 

Having  been  led  by  the  services  of  the  two  prece- 
ding Sundays,  to  consider  those  great  truths,  the  per- 

*  "  Ridley. — I  grant  that  I  saw  the  book,  but  I  deny  that  I 
wrote  it.  I  perused  it  after  it  was  made,  and  I  noted  many  things 
for  it.  So  I  consented  to  the  Book.  I  was  not  the  Author  of  it. 
These  Articles  were  set  out,  I  both  willing  and  consenting  to 
them.1'' — Ridley's  Examination  in  Fox's  Martyrs,  p.  1317. 


ARTICLE  IX. 


17 


sonality  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  existence  and 
offices  of  the  ever-blessed  Trinity,  it  does  not  ap- 
pear necessary  to  recapitulate  what  has  been  al- 
ready brought  before  you ;  we  shall,  therefore,  com- 
mence our  observations  by  an  examination  of  the 
Ninth  Article  of  our  Church,  which  treats  expressly 
upon 

"  Original  or  Birth  Sin." 
"  Original  sin,"  says  the  Article,  "  standeth  not  in 
the  following  of  Adam,  (as  the  Pelagians  do  vainly 
talk),  but  it  is  the  fault  and  corruption  of  the  nature 
of  every  man  that  naturally  is  engendered  of  the 
offspring  of  Adam."  By  the  phrase,  "  naturally  en- 
gendered of  the  offspring  of  Adam,"  the  Article  in- 
tends to  make  an  implied  exception  with  regard  to 
our  blessed  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  he  being 
supernaturally  engendered;  and,  as  all  Scripture 
clearly  shows,  being  "  holy,  harmless,  undefiled," 
and  therefore  as  entirely  free  from  original  corrup- 
tion, as  he  was  from  all  taint  of,  and  liability  to, 
actual  sin. 

The  Pelagians  were  the  followers  of  Pelagius, 
who  lived  at  the  end  of  the  fourth,  and  the  former  part 
of  the  fifth  century,  and  was  a  native  of  Wales. 
"  His  real  name  was  Morgan,  which  in  the  Welsh 
language  signifies  the  same  as  Pelagius  in  Greek." 
2* 


18 


DISCOURSE  I. 


"  He  denied  original  sin,  and  the  necessity  of  grace, 
and  asserted  that  men  might  arrive  at  a  state  of  im- 
peccability in  this  life/'  Our  Article  then  states,  in 
opposition  to  the  opinion  of  this  man  and  his  follow- 
ers, that  we  are  not  merely  guilty  before  God,  be- 
cause we  imitate  the  example  of  Adam,  but  be- 
cause, as  the  offspring  of  Adam,  we  are  actually 
born  into  the  world,  the  inheritors  of  a  fallen  and 
corrupt  nature.  That  there  is  corruption  in  us  before 
any  outward  circumstances  could  have  tended  to 
make  us  corrupt.  So  that,  were  we  exposed  to  no 
evil  example,  were  there  nothing  of  external  temp- 
tation to  lead  us  astray,  we  should  still  possess  this 
innate  "  fault  and  corruption."  This  assertion  is 
grounded  especially  upon  this  passage  of  Holy 
Writ,  among  many  others,  "  Nevertheless,  death 
reigned  from  Adam  to  Moses,  even  over  them  that 
had  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  trans- 
gression." When  the  Apostle  speaks  of  death 
reigning  over  them  that  had  not  so  sinned,  he  evi- 
dently speaks  of  infants,  those  who  died  at  too  early 
an  age  to  have  had  any  opportunity  of  imitating 
their  first  parent,  and  therefore  whose  sin  could  not 
stand  in  the  following  of  Adam.  And  his  argu- 
ment is  this, — "  Death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that 
all  have  sinned,"*  or  because  all  have  sinned ;  sin, 

*  Rom.  v.  12. 


ARTICLE  IX. 


19 


therefore,  is  the  cause  of  death ;  but  death  has  also 
passed  upon  infants,  who  are  unable  actually  to 
commit  sin,  therefore,  even  in  infants,  there  is  this 
original  fault  "  and  corruption,"  or  they  would  not 
fall  victims  to  that  which  is  declared  in  Scripture 
to  be  the  punishment  of  sin. 

This,  then,  sufficiently  establishes  the  assertion 
of  the  Article,  without  dwelling  upon  those  well- 
known  texts,  "  Who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of 
an  unclean."*  "  Behold,  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity, 
and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me."f  "  We 
were  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath,  even  as 
others."J 

Nothing,  then,  can  be  more  distinctly  demon- 
strated from  Scripture,  than  the  existence  of  this 
"  Original  or  Birth  Sin,"  a  doctrine  which  has  met 
with  more  opposition  than  almost  any  other  of  the 
vital  truths  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 

We  proceed  to  the  next  clause  of  the  Article 

*  Job  xiv.  4.  t  Psalm  ii.  5. 

X  Eph.  ii.  3.  Upon  this  last  passage,  Melancthon  says,  "  Chil- 
dren of  wrath  is  a  Hebrew  phrase;  it  signifies  guilty  or  con- 
demned, not  only  for  their  actual  offences,  but  for  that  corruption 
of  nature  which  we  bring  with  us  into  the  world,  not  contract 
from  example." — Melancthon 's  Common  Places,  quoted  by  Scott, 
Contin.  Milner,  vol.  ii.  p.  223. 


20 


DISCOURSE  I. 


before  us,  which  states  the  effects  of  this  original 
malady  of  our  fallen  nature,  "  Whereby  man  is 
very  far  gone  from  original  righteousness,  and  is 
of  his  own  nature  inclined  to  evil,  so  that  the  flesh 
lusteth  always  contrary  to  the  spirit,  and,  there- 
fore, in  every  person  born  into  this  world,  it  de- 
serveth  God's  wrath  and  damnation."  We  will 
not,  in  a  discourse  which  is  intended  simply  to  in- 
struct those  who  are  seeking  scriptural  instruction 
for  the  purpose  of  its  great  and  blessed  practical 
results,  viz.,  that  it  may  be  a  "  light  to  their  feet, 
and  a  lantern  to  their  paths,"*  occupy  your  time 
by  adverting  to  the  interminable  controversies 
which  have  arisen  upon  the  first  phrase  of  this 
paragraph,  "  Very  far  gone  from  original  right- 
eousness ;"  it  is  enough  merely  to  mention  that, 
while  some  divines  contend  that  all  which  is  in- 
tended to  be  implied  by  these  words  is,  that  there 
is  a  natural  tendency  to  evil,"  or  a  strong  "  evil 
bias"  in  our  nature;  others,  taking  the  terms  of 
the  Latin  Article.-)-  to  explain  the  English,  interpret 
it,  "  altogether  removed  from  original  righteous- 
ness," and  as  regards  the  things  of  God,  entirely 
alienated  from  them.  Happily,  however,  neither 
the  Word  of  God,  nor  the  word  of  the  Church, 


*  Psalm  xcxi.  105. 


f  Quam  longissimd  distet. 


ARTICLE  IX. 


21 


has  left  so  important  a  doctrine  to  be  determined 
by  a  single  phrase.  This  is  the  language  of  the 
Bible  :— 

M  Every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart 
is  only  evil  continually."*  "  The  heart  is  deceitful 
above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked  ;  who  can 
know  it?"f  "There  is  none  that  understandeth, 
there  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God."J  "  They  are 
all  gone  out  of  the  way;  they  are  together  become 
unprofitable ;  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not 
one."§ 

The  language  of  our  Church  is,  as  might  rea- 
sonably have  been  expected,  most  fully  and  entire- 
ly in  accordance  with  the  revealed  Word  of  our 
God. 

Hear,  for  instance,  the  following  extract  from 
the  Homily  for  Whit-sunday :  "  Man,  of  his  own 
nature,  is  fleshly  and  carnal,  corrupt  and  naughty, 
sinful  and  disobedient  to  God,  without  any  spark 
of  goodness  in  him,  without  any  virtuous  or  godly 
motion,  only  given  to  evil  thoughts  and  wicked 
,  deeds."||  Again,  from  the  second  Homily  on  "  the 
misery  of  man,"  after  quoting  those  passages  of 
Scripture  which  record  our  fallen  and  corrupt 

*  Gen.  vi.  5.        t  Jer.  xvii.  9.        X  Rom.  iii.  11. 
§  Rom.  iii.  12.  ||  Page  390,  edit.  1802. 


22 


DISCOURSE  I. 


state,  it  adds,  "  Thus  we  have  heard  how  evil  we 
be  of  ourselves,  how  of  ourselves,  and  by  our- 
selves, we  have  no  goodness,  help,  or  salvation, 
but  contrariwise,  sin,  damnation,  and  death  ever- 
lasting."* "  We  have  heard  how  that  of  our- 
selves, and  by  ourselves,  we  are  not  able  either 
to  think  a  good  thought,  or  work  a  good  deed,  so 
that  we  find  in  ourselves  no  hope  of  salvation,  but 
rather  whatsoever  maketh  unto  our  destruction."! 
Again,  from  the  Homily,  "on  the  nativity  of  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ."J  By  the  fall  of  Adam,  "  it 
came  to  pass,  that  as  before  he  was  blessed,  so  now 
he  was  accursed ;  as  before  he  was  loved,  so  now 
he  was  abhorred ;  as  before  he  was  most  beautiful 
and  precious,  so  now  he  was  most  vile  and  wretch- 
ed in  the  sight  of  his  Lord  and  his  Maker ;  instead 
of  the  image  of  God,  he  was  now  become  the 
image  of  the  devil ;  instead  of  the  citizen  of  hea- 
ven, he  was  become  the  bond-slave  of  hell,  having 
in  himself  no  one  part  of  his  former  purity  and 
cleanness,  but  being  altogether  spotted  and  defiled; 
insomuch  that  now  he  seemed  to  be  nothing  else 
but  a  lump  of  sin,  and  therefore  by  the  just  judg- 
ment of  God  was  condemned  to  everlasting  death." 
It  is  unnecessary,  after  these  extracts  from  our  ac- 

*  Page  14.  t  Page  15.  J  Page  338. 


ARTICLE  IX. 


23 


credited  formularies,  to  say  which  of  the  two  in- 
terpretations of  "  very  far  gone  from  original  right- 
eousness," appears  to  possess  the  authority  of  the 
Church.  But  we  have  not  yet  concluded  the 
Article.  It  continues  thus,  "  and  this  infection  of 
nature  doth  remain,  yea,  in  them  that  are  rege- 
nerated, whereby  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  called  in 
Greek,  pfov^a  <fapx%,  which  some  do  expound  the 
wisdom,  some  sensuality,  some  the  affection,  some 
the  desire  of  the  flesh,  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of 
God.  And  though  there  is  no  condemnation  for 
them  that  believe  and  are  baptised,  yet  the  Apostle 
doth  confess,  that  concupiscence  and  lust  hath  of 
itself  the  nature  of  sin." 

Here  the  article  distinctly  marks  the  fact,  that 
even  in  the  regenerate,  notwithstanding  their  change 
of  heart,  and  a  renewal  of  nature,  and  pardon  of 
transgression,  there  is  still  "  this  infection"  re- 
maining, so  that  they  are  never,  while  in  this  world, 
perfectly  subjected  to  the  law  of  God,  but  are  con- 
tinually exposed,  throughout  the  whole  of  their 
Christian  course,  to  the  attacks  of  sensuality,  and 
the  desires  of  the  flesh.  How  entirely  the  view 
taken,  in  the  clause  we  are  considering,  of  this  in- 
fection of  our  nature  remaining  in  the  regenerate, 
is  conformable  to  the  Word  of  God,  will  imme- 


24  DISCOURSE  I. 

diately  appear  from  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
where  St.  Paul  declares,  speaking,  as  we  most  fully 
believe,  of  his  own  Christian  experience  after  he 
had  become  regenerate,  "  The  good  that  I  would, 
I  do  not ;  but  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that  I  do." 
"  For  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward 
man ;  but  I  see  another  law  in  my  members,  warring 
against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into 
captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members."* 
Surely  nothing  can  more  clearly  illustrate  the  "  in- 
fection of  our  nature,"  which  the  Article  says, 
"  doth  remain  in  them  that  are  regenerated,"  than 
these  admissions  of  St.  Paul.  If,  however,  there  be 
any  who  do  not  believe  that  the  Apostle,  in  these 
verses,  really  spoke  of  himself,  after  his  conversion, 
we  would  refer  them  to  the  fifth  chapter  of  Gala- 
tians,  where  they  will  find  the  same  truths  as 
unequivocally  stated  in  a  passage  which  no  Com- 
mentator has  ever  doubted  was  applied  to  the 
regenerate.  "  This  I  say  then,  W alk  in  the  Spirit, 
and  ye  shall  not  fulfil  the  lust  of  the  flesh.  For  the 
flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  Spirit  against 
the  flesh  ;  and  these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the 
other,  so  that  ye  cannot"  (although  true  converts, 
and  therefore  undoubtedly  regenerated,)  "  do  the 

*  Rom.  vii.  19,  22,  23. 


ARTICLE  IX. 


25 


things  that  ye  would."*  But  let  us  turn  to  the  most 
blessed  conclusion  of  this  humiliating  Article,  viz., 
that  although  all  partake  of  this  original  sin,  al- 
though all  retain  "  the  infection"  of  it  throughout 
life,  and  are  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  from  time  to 
time,  drawn  aside  by  it  fiom  the  laws  of  God,  and 
from  the  paths  of  holiness,  and  though  these  very 
desires  which  thus  draw  them  have  "  the  nature  of 
sin,"  yet  that  "  there  is  no  condemnation  for  them 
that  believe  and  are  baptised. 

This  is  the  healing  that  came  upon  the  wings  of 
the  second  Adam,  for  the  great  and  deadly  wound 
inflicted  upon  all  his  posterity  by  theirs/.  In  vain 
did  Satan  hope  that  by  the  ruin  of  our  great  federal 
Head,  and  the  consequent  degradation  of  the  whole 
species,  he  should  insure  the  destruction  of  the 
whole ;  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  His 
only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."f  Here 
then  was  a  remedy,  quite  co-extensive  with  the 
disease,  nay,  more  than  co-extensive,  for  has  not 
the  unerring  Word  declared,  "  Where  sin  abounded,, 
grace  did  much  more  abound :  that  as  sin  hath 
reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might  grace  reign 

*  Gal.  v.  16,  17.  t  John  Hi.  16. 

3 


26  DISCOURSE  I. 

through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord."* 

The  result  then  of  the  whole  Article  is  this,  that 
as  by  the  sin  of  the  first  Adam  all  men  fell,  and 
the  nature  of  all  men  became  corrupt,  "  so  that 
the  flesh  lusteth  always  contrary  to  the  Spirit;  and 
therefore  in  every  person  born  into  this  world,  it 
deserveth  God's  wrath  and  damnation  ;"  so  through 
the  atoning  sacrifice  of  the  second  Adam,  all  "  that 
believe  and  are  baptised,"  are  freed  from  condem- 
nation, and  are  made  partakers  of  everlasting  life. 

And  now,  brethren,  were  we  to  conclude  here, 
although  perhaps  we  might  hope  that  we  had  ex- 
plained the  Article  before  us,  and  shown  its  perfect 
accordance  with  the  declarations  of  Omnipotence ; 
nay,  more,  though  we  might  venture  to  trust  that 
most  of  our  hearers  would  acquiesce  in  the  conclu- 
sions at  which  we  have  arrived,  still  not  a  single 
individual  might  carry  away  from  this  house  of 
prayer  a  deeper  conviction  of  his  own  lost  and 
ruined  state  by  nature,  and  of  his  own  actual  sin- 
fulness and  unprofitableness.  Yet  this  is  the  point, 
which,  if  it  be  not  effected,  would  leave  all  our  de- 
clarations of  general  sinfulness  merely  "  as  sound- 
ing brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal." 

*  Rom.  v.  19,  20,  21. 


ARTICLE  IX. 


27 


How  difficult,  how  utterly  impossible  is  it  for 
any  human  teacher  to  produce  this  conviction  of 
sin :  we  may  convince  the  mind,  but  it  is  God 
alone  who  can  convince  the  conscience  and  really 
reach  the  heart.  May  that  blessed  Being,  even 
God  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  peculiar  perogative  it  is 
thus  to  convince  of  sin,  send  home  this  day  the 
arrow  of  conviction  to  the  hearts  of  some  who  have 
hitherto,  from  very  carelessness  and  thoughtlessness, 
escaped  all  personal  application  of  this  most  hum- 
bling doctrine. 

We  will  not  occupy  your  time  by  supposing  that 
we  address  gross  and  outward  sinners,  persons 
living  in  the  commission  of  profaneness,  of  impiety, 
of  adultery,  of  fornication,  or  of  any  of  those  works 
of  darkness,  which,  though  hidden  from  the  eye  of 
man,  are,  as  the  Word  of  God  assures  us,  all  writ- 
ten "  in  the  light  of  God's  countenance,"  all  prepared 
against  that  great  and  coming  day,  when  men  shall 
need  no  other  accusers  than  these,  and  no  other 
witnesses,  to  strike  them  speechless,  and  to  testify 
to  the  justice  of  their  condemnation.  To  such  it  is 
unnecessary  to  speak :  we  would  rather  address 
ourselves  to  the  moral,  and  the  upright,  and  the 
amiable ;  you  who  have  filled,  and  are  filling,  the  dif- 
ferent relationships  of  life  in  the  most  irreproachable 
and  unexceptionable  manner,  and  its  duties  with  so 


28 


DISCOURSE  I. 


much  honour  and  equity,  that  even  your  enemies, 
if  you  have  any,  are  compelled,  like  Pilate  of  old, 
to  say,  "  I  find  no  fault  in  this  man." 

It  is  to  you  especially  that  we  speak,  when  we 
declare,  that  all  which  we  have  this  day  advanced 
of  the  sinfulness  and  corruption  of  our  nature,  and 
of  the  entire  absence  of  original  righteousness,  ap- 
plies as  distinctly  and  as  completely  to  yourself,  be 
your  rank  and  station  what  they  may,  as  to  the 
guiltiest  and  the  most  abandoned  of  your  fellow- 
sinners.  All  the  virtues  upon  which  you  pride 
yourself  will  not,  in  any,  the  slightest  degree,  avail 
you,  as  proving  that  you  are  an  exception  to  the 
general  rule  of  a  fallen  nature,  a  corrupt  and  sinful 
heart,  a  mind  alienated  from  God  and  His  righteous- 
ness, which  is  the  lot  of  every  child  of  Adam. 
Your  virtues  may  exist ;  we  do  not  in  the  least  de- 
sire to  deny  it,  we  do  not  wish  even  to  underrate 
them ;  the  fall  of  Adam  did  not  destroy  them,  it  left 
much,  very  much  of  amiability,  and  kindness,  and 
honour,  and  integrity,  in  the  corrupt  and  guilty 
heart;  there  they  lie,  like  the  beautiful  fragments  of 
some  fair  column,  each  fair  and  lovely  in  itself,  yet 
each  a  ruin,  and  were  all  collected,  forming  but  a 
ruin  still.  The  column  which  was  shattered  to 
atoms  by  the  fall  of  Adam,  was  the  holiness  of  our 
nature,  its  purity,  and  piety,  its  love  to  God,  and 


ARTICLE  IX. 


29 


likeness  to  His  image,  and  conformity  to  His  will. 
These  in  the  natural  heart,  have  all  disappeared, 
and  those  moral  virtues,  of  kindness  to  your  friends, 
and  affection  to  your  family,  and  honour  and  inte- 
grity to  all,  in  which  you  are  rejoicing,  are  merely 
like  the  leaves  of  the  capital  of  the  column,  which 
are  here  and  there  scattered  amidst  the  ruin  of  the 
mass,  undestroyed  indeed,  but,  as  regards  the 
column  in  its  present  state,  utterly  useless.  Put 
them  all  together,  and  you  could  not  re-erect  the 
shattered  pillar,  no  not  one  single  foot  of  it ;  all  that 
you  could  gather  up  would  be  but  these  mere  orna- 
mental appendages,  which,  detached  from  the  shaft 
on  which  they  grew,  are  as  worthless  as  they  are 
fair  and  frail.  To  convince  you  of  sin,  therefore, 
we  would  not  inquire  into  the  duties  of  the  second 
table  of  God's  commands,  easy  as  it  might,  perhaps, 
be  to  convict  you  even  there,  of  unworthy  motives, 
amidst  your  proudest  virtues ;  but  we  would  urge 
you  to  try  yourself  by  the  duties  of  the  first  table, 
your  allegiance  to  God. 

God  demands  your  whole  heart ;  He  requires  truth 
in  the  inward  parts ;  purity  in  the  imagination  and 
thoughts.  How  will  you  answer  when  tried  by 
such  a  standard  1    Are  there  no  thoughts  admitted 

into  your  hearts,  and  entertained  there,  which  are 
3# 


30 


DISCOURSE  I. 


dishonourable  to  God,  injurious  to  your  neighbour, 
disgraceful  to  yourself?  Have  you  no  thought 
there  which  you  would  scruple  to  declare,  even  be- 
fore this  assembly  of  sinners  like  yourself?  Would 
you  have  no  objection  to  repeat  aloud  before  all 
here  present,  every  vain  and  foolish  and  wicked 
imagination  which  has  occupied  your  mind  since 
you  arose  this  morning,  or  even  since  you  entered 
these  doors?  How  much  more  need  you  then  to 
be  ashamed  before  a  perfectly  pure  and  holy  God, 
Not  to  speak  of  proud,  covetous,  vain,  ambitious, 
wanton  thoughts,  how  many  thoughts  of  unthank- 
fulness  for  the  mercies  of  God,  of  impatience  under 
His  trials,  of  repinings  under  His  Providences,  of 
disregard  and  forgetfulness  of  Himself.  Are  you 
free  from  these  things?  Does  a  single  day  ever 
pass  over  you  without,  we  will  not  say  one  such 
sinful  imagination,  but  without  many  such,  breaking 
in  upon  ypu,  and  carrying  you  away  captive  almost 
before  you  are  sensible  of  their  attack.  If  this  be 
the  case,  and  if  you  have  lived  twenty,  thirty,  or 
forty  years  in  this  world  of  sin,  who  can  tell  the 
length  of  that  dark  scroll  written  within  and  without, 
with  guilty  thoughts,  unprofitable  words,  and  un- 
holy actions,  which  no  eye  but  God's  has  seen,  and 
no  hand  but  His  has  registered  ? 


ARTICLE  IX. 


31 


Again,  God  commands  that  "  all  men  should 
honour  the  Son  even  as  they  honour  the  Father."* 
Have  you  through  life  fulfilled  this  great  and  ob- 
vious duty?  Have  you  loved  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  with  all  your  heart,  and  mind,  and  soul, 
and  strength?  Have  you  dwelt  upon  the  great 
things  He  has  done  and  suffered  for  you,  till  your 
soul  has  been  filled  with  the  deepest  gratitude,  and 
your  heart  with  the  most  obedient,  self-denying 
love?  Have  you  hated,  and  endeavoured  to  re- 
nounce, all  sin,  remembering  what  it  cost  this  ador- 
able Saviour  to  redeem  your  souls  ?  Alas !  who 
can  come  forth  acquitted— who  can  pass  unscathed 
through  such  an  ordeal?  Who  will  not,  if  he  know 
his  heart,  be  obliged  to  confess,  "  Here,  O  my  God, 
I  stand  utterly  condemned ;  I  have  no  word  to 
speak,  no  cause  to  show  why  judgment  should  not 
be  passed  on  me."  What  is  the  result,  then,  at 
which  we  arrive  ?  Is  it  not  this,  that  were  there 
no  scriptural  foundation  for  the  truths  of  which  we 
have  this  day  spoken ;  were  the  whole  doctrine  of 
"  original,  or  birth-sin,"  blotted  from  the  Bible,  our 
case  at  least,  as  sinners  before  God,  would  not  be 
in  any,  the  slightest  degree,  improved  or  altered 
by  it;  there  would  still  remain  sufficient,  fully  suf- 

*  John  v.  23. 


32  DISCOURSE  I. 

cient  in  the  lives  and  in  the  hearts,  even  of  the  best 
among  us,  to  sink  us  to  perdition.  How  strange 
then  is  it,  that  men  deny  this  doctrine,  and  dispute, 
and  cavil,  and  contest  it,  as  if,  could  they  once  get 
rid  of  this,  they  should  stand  acquitted  before  God ; 
while,  if  they  knew  their  own  hearts,  they  would 
admit  that  of  all  those  wretched  beings  who  have 
now  commenced  an  eternity  of  woe,  there  is  not 
an  individual  who  has  not  merited  and  obtained  his 
sad  pre-eminence  in  misery,  by  his  own  neglect  of 
the  Saviour,  his  own  continuance  in  sin,  his  own 
apostacy  from  God. 

May  the  review  of  these  great  truths  send  each 
of  us  to  his  own  heart  in  serious,  earnest  self-ex- 
amination :— Am  1  a  sinner  by  nature  and  by  prac- 
tice 1  Am  I  convinced,  with  the  Apostle  of  old, 
that  "  in  me,  that  is,  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good 
thing  ;"*  and  do  I  in  consequence  "  abhor  myself, 
and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes  Pf 

Be  assured,  brethren,  there  is  not  one  soul  among 
us  who  can  answer  these  inquiries  as  the  Word  of 
God  would  have  us  answer  them,  who  shall  not, 
in  God's  good  time,  if  he  approach  Him  through 
the  blood  of  his  dear  Son,  if  he  seek  repentance 
and  pardon,  as  His  gifts,  through  the  atoning 

*  Rom.  vii.  18.  t  Job  xlii.  6. 


ARTICLE  IX. 


33 


merits  and  everliving  intercession  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  shortly  hear  those  blessed  words,  "  I, 
even  I,  am  he  that  blotteth  out  thy  transgressions 
for  mine  own  sake,  and  will  not  remember  thy 
sins,"* 

*  Isa.  xliii.  25. 


34 


DISCOURSE  II. 


DISCOURSE  II. 

JOHN  VI.  44. 

«  No  man  can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father  which  hath 
sent  me  draw  him." 

The  tenth  Article  of  our  Church,  to  which  we 
are  to  apply  ourselves  this  morning,  is,  perhaps, 
among  the  most  difficult  that  we  shall  meet  with 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  inquiry  in  which  we 
are  engaged.  Let  us  then  approach  it  in  a  spirit 
of  true  humility,  not  expecting  to  find  that  subject 
plain  and  simple  which  godly  men  in  all  ages  have 
found  obscure  and  difficult,  but  contented  if  we 
can  discern  the  language  of  our  God  in  the  words 
of  our  Church,  and  if  we  can,  by  the  aid  of  the 
Spirit  of  wisdom  and  truth,  deduce  some  useful 
practical  lessons  from  a  subject,  upon  which  too 
many  are  satisfied  to  reason,  and  to  speculate,  and 
to  dogmatize,  until  all  spiritual  benefit  is  frittered 
away,  and  the  mind  itself,  fatigued  and  harassed, 
in  "wandering  mazes  lost,"  finds  no  rest  for  the 


ARTICLE  X. 


35 


sole  of  its  weary  foot.  This  is  the  language  of  the 
Tenth  Article— 

"  Of  Free  Will 

"  The  condition  of  man  after  the  fall  of  Adam 
is  such,  that  he  cannot  turn  and  prepare  himself, 
by  his  own  natural  strength  and  good  works,  to 
faith  and  calling  upon  God." 

You  will  observe  how  naturally  and  incontro- 
vertibly  this  declaration  grows  out  of  the  pre- 
ceding Article.  In  that  Article,  our  Church  has 
pronounced  her  opinion  in  favour  of  the  corruption 
and  alienation  from  God  of  "the  nature  of  every 
man  that  naturally  is  engendered  of  the  offspring 
of  Adam."  Believing,  then,  his  corruption  to  be 
thus  complete,  it  follows,  as  a  matter  of  indis- 
putable truth,  that  he  can  have  no  inclination  or 
will,  and  consequently  no  power  to  turn  and  pre- 
pare himself  to  faith  and  calling  upon  God  :  for, 
if  he  naturally  possessed  this  will,  if  he  had  by 
nature  any,  the  smallest  desire  after  God,  any, 
the  smallest  inclination  to  believe,  to  obey,  and 
to  call  upon  God,  then  by  so  much  his  corruption 
would  not  be  entire ;  as  regarded,  at  least,  these 
duties  of  the  Christian  life,  he  would  not  be  at  all 
"gone  from  original  righteousness." 

And  this  appears  to  be  nearly  all  that  our 


36 


DISCOURSE  II. 


Church  intended  to  assert  in  the  Article  before 
us,  that  in  consequence  of  the  fall  of  Adam,  his 
corrupt  and  fallen  posterity  will  never  naturally 
choose,  and  therefore  can  never  naturally  perform 
that  which  is  spiritually  good  before  God. 

There  is,  therefore,  the  most  perfect  consistency 
between  the  statements  of  the  preceding  Article 
and  of  the  present.  The  former  represents  man 
as  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  conceived  in  sin;  the 
latter  represents  him  as  unable,  in  consequence  of 
the  fall  of  Adam,  "  by  his  own  natural  strength," 
to  emerge  from  this  state  of  guilt  and  pollution. 

That  the  Church  maintains  the  same  opinion  in 
all  her  formularies,  may  be  seen  by  a  very  brief 
reference  to  her  Homilies  and  Liturgy,  which  are 
entirely  pervaded  by  the  doctrine  of  the  Article 
before  us.  Take  for  example  the  following  extract 
from  the  first  Homily  on  Repentance  So  must 
we  beware  and  take  heed,  that  we  do  in  no  wise 
think  in  our  hearts,  imagine,  or  believe,  that  we 
are  able  to  repent  aright,  or  to  turn  effectually 
unto  the  Lord,  by  our  own  might  and  strength. 
For  this  must  be  verified  in  all,  'without  me  ye 
can  do  nothing.'*  Again,  'Of  ourselves  we  are 
not  able  so  much  as  to  think  a  good  thought.' 

*  John  xv.  5. 


ARTICLE  X. 


37 


And  in  another  place,  'It  is  God  that  worketh  in 
us  both  the  will  and  the  deed.'*  For  this  cause, 
although  Jeremiah  had  said  before,  '  If  thou  re- 
turn, 0  Israel,  return  unto  me,  saith  the  Lord :' 
yet  afterwards  he  saith,  '  Turn  thou  me,  O  Lord, 
and  I  shall  be  turned.' "f  The  same  truth  will 
be  found,  expressed  with  equal  clearness,  in  the 
Homily  on  "  The  Misery  of  all  Mankind."  In 
the  second  Homily  on  "  The  Passion,"  in  the 
third  part  of  the  "  Homily  for  Rogation  Week," 
to  all  of  which  I  would  rather  refer  you  than 
quote  from  them,  in  the  hope  that  such  a  reference 
may  induce  some  among  you,  not  only  to  read 
but  attentively  to  search  those  valuable  documents, 
which,  however  obsolete  in  their  phraseology,  well 
deserve  to  occupy  the  next  place  to  the  Word  of 
God  itself  in  the  heart  of  every  inquiring  member 
of  the  Church  of  England. 

If  from  the  Homilies  we  pass  to  the  Liturgy, 
we  shall  find  the  same  doctrine  equally  prevalent. 
At  one  time  we  declare  our  solemn  conviction  to 
Almighty  God  that,  "  Through  the  weakness  of 
our  mortal  nature,  we  can  do  no  good  thing  with- 
out";]; Him.    At  another,  we  beseech  him,  that  as 

*  Phil.  ii.  13.  t  8vo.  Oxford,  p.  455. 

t  Collect  for  the  First  Sunday  after  Trinity. 

4 


38  DISCOURSE  II. 

by  his  "  special  grace  preventing  us,  He  does  put 
into  our  minds  good  desires,  so  by  his  continual 
help  we  may  bring  the  same  to  good  effect."* 
And  at  all  times,  and  in  all  our  services,  we  speak 
the  language  of  those  who  feel  in  their  hearts 
that  they  "  have  no  power  of  themselves  to  help 
themselves,"!  and  therefore  continually  beseech  of 
God  to  "  incline"  their  hearts  to  serve  Him,  and 
to  keep  his  law. 

It  would,  however,  be  saying  little  to  assert 
that  the  Church  were  consistent  with  herself,  if 
we  could  not  also  show  that  she  were  equally  con- 
sistent with  the  revealed  Word  of  God. 

Perhaps  the  language  of  my  text  alone  would 
sufficiently  bear  us  out  in  the  assertion,  "  No  man 
can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father  who  hath  sent 
me  draw  him,"  but  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New  are  equally  full  and  unambiguous  upon  this 
important  point.  If,  for  instance,  in  the  Prophets, 
Ephraim  bemoan  himself,  this  is  his  language, 
"  Surely  after  that  I  was  turned,  I  repented ;"{  and 
again,  "  Turn  thou  me,  and  I  shall  be  turned."§  If 
David  ask  for  help,  it  is  with  a  consciousness  of 

*  Collect  for  Easter-day. 

t  Collect  for  the  Second  Sunday  in  Lent. 

t  Jer.  xxxi.  19.  §  Jer.  xxxi.  18. 


ARTICLE  X. 


39 


weakness  which  seems  scarcely  able  to  find  ex- 
pressions sufficiently  strong ;  thus  he  prays  that 
God  would  "  open  his  eves,"  and  "  quicken,"  and 
"strengthen,"  and  "enlarge"*  his  heart, — "create 
in  him  a  clean  heart,  and  renew  a  right  spirit 
within  him."f  If  the  apostles  speak  of  the  natural 
man,  they  hesitate  not  to  describe  him  as  a  corpse, 
from  which  all  will,  all  power,  all  strength,  with 
respect  to  spiritual  things,  yea,  even  life  itself  has 
departed. 

Enough  then  has,  we  trust,  been  said,  to  show 
that,  in  the  Article  before  us,  our  Church  is  con- 
sistent with  truth,  with  herself,  and  with  the  re- 
vealed Word  of  her  God,  when  she  says  that 
"  after  the  fall  of  Adam"  man  "  cannot  turn  and 
prepare  himself,  by  his  own  natural  strength  and 
good  works,  to  faith  and  calling  upon  God."J 

*  Ps.  cxix.  18.  25.  28.  32.  f  Ps.  li.  10,  11. 

$  It  may  also  be  worthy  of  remark,  that  on  this  subject  our 
Church  agrees  entirely  with  the  opinion  of  all  the  Reformers,  as 
expressed  in  the  celebrated  "  Confession  of  Augsburgh,"  drawn 
up  by  Luther  and  Melancthon  in  1530,  in  the  eighteenth  article 
of  which  we  read,  that  "The  human  will  possesses  liberty  for 
the  performance  of  civil  duties,"  or  the  duties  between  man  and 
man  in  civil  life,  and  to  choose  things  subject  "  or  submitted  to 
reason ;  but  it  has  not  power  wi  hout  the  Holy  Spirit  to  perform 
spiritual  righteousness." — ScoWs  Continuation  of  Milner,  p.  35. 


40 


DISCOURSE  II. 


We  proceed  to  the  second  portion  of  the  Article. 
"  Wherefore  we  have  no  power  to  do  good  works, 
pleasant  and  acceptable  to  God,  without  the  grace 
of  God  by  Christ  preventing"  (or  going  before)  "us, 
that  we  may  have  a  good  will,  and  working  with 
us  when  we  have  that  good  will." 

In  the  Ninth  Article,  as  you  will  recollect,  there 
is  a  direct  reference  made  to  the  Pelagians,  whose 
opinion  it  was  especially  intended  to  controvert. 
That  fact  forms  a  key  to  the  intention  of  the  Ar- 
ticles generally,  for  almost  all  of  them  were  con- 
structed to  correct  some  error  which  had  at  one 
period  or  another  crept  into  the  Church.  Thus  in 
the  passage  of  the  Tenth  Article  which  we  have 
just  read,  there  are  allusions  to  the  false  opinions 
of  two  classes  of  heretics,  the  Pelagians  and  the 
Semi-Pelagians. 

"  The  Pelagians  thought  that  man  was  so  entire  in 
his  liberty  that  there  was  no  need  of  any  other  grace 
but  that  of  pardon,  and  of  proposing  the  truths 
of  religion  to  men's  knowledge,  but  that  the  use 
of  these  was  in  every  man's  power."*  In  opposition 
to  this,  the  Article  distinctly  declares,  that*of  our- 
selves "  we  have  no  power"  to  avail  ourselves  of 
these  things,  even  if  they  were  proposed  to  us. 

*  Bishop  Burnett  on  the  Articles,  p.  162.  8vo.  Oxford. 


ARTICLE  X. 


41 


Again  the  Semi-Pelagians  asserted,  that  "  an  as- 
sisting inward  grace  was  necessary  to  enable  a 
man  to  go  through  all  the  harder  steps  of  re- 
ligion; but  with  that  they  thought  that  the  first  turn, 
or  conversion  of  the  will  to  God,  was  the  effect  of 
a  man's  own  free  choice."*  In  opposition  to  this 
unscriptural  statement,  the  Article  not  only  de- 
clares that  the  "  grace  of  God  by  Christ"  must 
work  with  us  when  we  have  a  good  will,  but  that 
it  must  go  before  us,  that  "  we  may  have  this  good 
will." 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  if  we 
may  judge  by  many  of  the  printed  discourses 
which  we  meet  with*  there  was  much  actual  Pela- 
gianism  in  the  religion  of  the  Christian  world,  but, 
blessed  be  God,  since  the  re' urn  to  the  doctrines  of 
the  Reformation  has,  by  His  grace,  been  rapidly  ex- 
tending, this  error  has  almost  entirely  disappeared. 
It  became,  in  fact,  too  flagrant  for  the  improved 
degree  of  Scriptural  light  abroad  in  the  world,  and 
Satan's  efforts,  therefore,  have  long  been,  and  now 
are,  employed  in  deluding  men  with  the  less  fla- 
grant, but  scarcely  less  dangerous,  error  of  those 
to  whom,  the  conclusion  of  the  Article  so  incontro- 


*  Ibid. 
4* 


42 


DISCOURSE  II. 


vertibly  replies,  viz.,  those  who  think  they  need 
assisting,  but  not  "  preventing"  grace. 

It  is  astonishing  to  find  how  many  there  are, 
even  among  the  members  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, who,  perhaps  unconsciously,  but  nevertheless 
unquestionably,  hold  these  Semi-Pelagian  doctrines. 
Consider  for  a  moment,  whether  there  may  not  be 
some,  even  among  yourselves,  who  are  not  wholly 
freed  from  them.  You  have  no  hesitation  in  allow- 
ing that  the  grace  of  God  must  assist  a  man's  own 
endeavours,  but  you  would  not  as  readily  confess, 
that  the  same  grace  must  originate  them.  You 
would  hesitate  to  avow  that  the  good  work  must 
be  begun  in  your  heart  by  some  external  power, 
that  God  must  first  change,  or  turn,  or  incline  the 
heart,  before  it  can  believe,  or  love,  or  obey.  This 
is  the  important  link  in  the  chain  which  is  so  often 
wanting,  and  without  which  the  whole  chain  falls 
broken  and  powerless  to  the  ground.  For  remark 
only  the  absolute  inconsistency  to  which  it  drives 
you.  You  acknowledge  the  truth  of  those  affecting 
views  of  human  depravity  and  corruption  of  heart, 
which  the  Ninth  Article  asserts,  and  which  all 
Scripture  has  affirmed.  You  acknowledge  that 
man  must  use  his  best  efforts,  and  his  most  sincere 
endeavours,  and  that  the  grace  of  God  must  assist 


ARTICLE  X. 


43 


him  in  carrying  them  on  to  perfection.  But  do 
you  see  no  chasm,  no  hiatus  here  ?  Where  are 
these  best  endeavours  to  spring  from,  where  all  is 
bad?  In  what  are  these  holy  resolutions  to  take 
their  rise,  where  all  is  unholy  and  polluted  1  Can 
it  be  in  the  soil  of  the  natural  heart,  which  the 
Word  of  God  has  declared  to  be  "  only  evil  and 
that  continually,"  that  these  seedling  graces  are  in- 
digenous? Can  it  be  amid  the  fruits  of  the  natural 
heart,  the  whole  of  which  our  Lord  has  emptied 
out  before  us,  and  shown  them  to  be  only  "  evil 
thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  thefts, 
false  witness,  blasphemies,"  that  we  are  to  find  the 
blessed  fruits  of  righteousness,  and  godliness,  and 
true  holiness,  thickly  intermingled  ?  Can  they  grow 
spontaneously  in  such  a  worse  than  barren  soil,  or 
thrive  amidst  such  noxious  and  poisonous  com- 
panions ?  Is  it  not  then  an  obvious  absurdity  to  as- 
sert that  if  the  grace  of  God  merely  co-operate  with 
our  honest  endeavours,  all  will  be  well.  Surely  far 
more  than  this  is  absolutely  indispensable  to  the 
production  of  a  single  fruit  of  holiness  and  true 
righteousness.  And  this  the  Article  distinctly  pro- 
vides for,  when  it  says  that  the  work  must  begin 
from  God ;  when  it  asserts  that  the  grace  of  God 
must  first  give  us  the  "good  will"  and  then  work 


44 


DISCOURSE  II. 


with  us,  in  carrying  the  good  intentions  which  He 
has  given  us  into  effect.  So  perfectly  consistent 
with  that  declaration  of  Holy  Writ,  "  For  it  is  God 
that  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do,  of  his 
good  pleasure." 

It  is  most  important  that  you  should,  by  earnest 
self-examination,  discover,  and  by  the  assistance  of 
God's  good  Spirit  abjure  this  error,  if  you  are  still 
entangled  in  it.  Until  this  has  been  effected,  you 
can  never  participate  in  those  lowly  views  of  your- 
self, and  those  exalted  views  of  the  sovereignty  of 
God,  without  which  true  spirituality  of  mind  can- 
not exist :  for  it  is  not  until  the  heart  is  fully  per- 
suaded of  its  own  ruined  state  by  nature,  and  of  its 
consequent  inability  of  itself  to  repair  ihe  ruin,  that, 
"  With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness, 
and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salva- 
tion."* 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  great  and  general 
opposition  to  the  vital  truth  of  which  we  are  speak- 
ing is  to  be  traced,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  pride 
and  self-sufficiency  of  our  corrupt  nature.  But 
when  these  are  in  some  degree  diminished,  there  is 
often  to  be  found  a  strong  hostility  to  the  doctrine, 
in  many  minds,  arising  from  a  total  misapprehen- 

*  Romans  x.  10. 


ARTICLE  X. 


45 


sion  of  it.  Let  us  then  endeavour  for  a  few  moments 
to  apply  the  remedy,  of  at  least  a  clear  statement 
of  the  difficulty,  which  may,  by  God's  grace,  re- 
move any  mistaken  notions  upon  the  subject,  and 
prepare  the  mind  for  the  sincere  and  cordial  recep- 
tion of  this  great  scriptural  truth. 

You,  then,  who  conscientiously  differ  from  your 
Church  in  this  particular,  perhaps  are  led  to  do  so 
by  the  following  misapprehension  of  the  subject 
under  consideration.  You  consider  that  if  the 
work  of  turning  and  "  preparing  ourselves  to  faith 
and  calling  upon  God"  must  thus  so  entirely  origi- 
nate in  God,  then  man  becomes  a  mere  machine, 
and  ceases  to  be  either  a  free  agent  or  a  responsible 
being.  This  arises,  perhaps,  in  a  great  measure, 
from  confounding  free  agency  with  free  will.  If, 
as  we  believe,  all  men  are  by  nature  in  a  state  of 
alienation  from  God,  and  if  the  power  of  escaping 
from  this  state  were  actually  denied  to  any,  then 
there  would  be  to  some  a  natural  impossibility  of 
turning  to  God ;  they  would  not  be  free  agents, 
which  they  unquestionably  are,  or  they  could  not 
be  responsible :  but  if  the  means  of  so  turning  to 
God  are  offered  to  all,  and  if  the  stubbornness  and 
the  corruption  of  the  will  alone  prevent  them  from 
accepting  the  means,  then  there  is  not  a  natural 


46 


DISCOURSE  II. 


but  only  a  moral  impossibility,  and  this  moral 
impossibility,  instead  of  extenuating,  only  enhances 
their  guilt.  The  man  is  a  free  agent,  but  he  will 
not  avail  himself  of  the  power  which  is  offered 
him ;  as  our  Lord  said  of  the  Jews,  "  Ye  will 
not  come  to  me  that  ye  might  have  life."* 
Most  earnestly  would  we  desire  that  every  one 
among  you,  who  has  ever  felt  the  difficulty  of  this 
great  truth,  would  view  it  thus ;  for  we  cannot  but 
believe  that  much  of  the  opposition  now  manifested 
towards  the  doctrine  would  be  at  an  end,  if  it  were 
seen  thus  to  leave  the  free  agency  of  man,  and  con- 
sequently his  responsibility,  so  entirely  untouched. 
The  example  of  the  patriarch  Jacob  has  been  con- 
sidered as  well  illustrating  this  difficult  subject. 
What  led  him  at  the  close  of  his  life,  to  go  down 
into  Egypt?  Was  he  compelled  to  go  thither? 
Was  he  not  a  perfectly  free  agent  ?  Was  he  not  as 
free  to  remain  in  Canaan  after  the  famine  com- 
menced, as  before  ?  How  was  it,  then,  that  at  his 
advanced  age,  he  should  have  undertaken  so  im- 
probable a  task,  so  toilsome  a  journey?  Was  there 
any  restraint,  any  compulsion  ?  Was  it  not  that  he 
knew  that  his  beloved  son  Joseph  was  there?  that 


*  John  v.  40. 


ARTICLE  X. 


47 


as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  wagons  which  his  son 
had  sent  for  him,  his  heart  fainted  within  him  for 
joy  ?  Surely  this  was  no  restraint,  no  compulsion, 
nothing  was  done  against  his  will ;  his  will  itself 
was  changed,  and  instead  of  desiring  any  longer  to 
remain  where  he  was,  all  his  desire,  all  his  anxiety 
now  was  to  go  to  his  beloved  and  long-lost  son.  So 
it  is  with  ourselves.  From  the  beginning  to  the  end, 
our  free  agency  is  left  untouched,  our  responsibility 
unimpaired.  When  God  bestows  the  will  to  turn  to 
him,  we  being  willing  in  the  day  of  his  power,* 
are  as  anxious  to  turn  to  him,  as  we  have  ever  been 
in  the  days  of  our  stubbornness  and  darkness  to  turn 
away.f 

*  See  Psalm  ex.  3. 

t  Perhaps  Luther,  in  his  celebrated  treatise  "the  bondage  of 
the  will,"  has  stated  this  most  difficult  subject  as  clearly  as  it  can 
be  stated.  He  says,  "  In  fact  there  is  no  restraint  either  on  the 
Divine  or  the  human  will;  in  both  cases  the  will  does  what  it 
does,  whether  good  or  bad,  simply,  and  as  at  perfect  liberty,  in 

the  exercise  of  its  own  faculty  A  man  who  has  not  the 

Spirit  of  God,  does  evil  willingly,  and  spontaneously.  He  is  not 
violently  impelled  against  his  will,  as  a  thief  is  to  the  gallows. 
....  Again,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  is  pleased  to  change  the  will 
of  a  bad  man,  the  new  man  still  acts  voluntarily  ;  he  is  not  com- 
pelled by  the  Spirit  to  determine  contrary  to  his  will,  but  his  will 
itself  is  changed;  and  he  cannot  now  do  otherwise  than  love  the 
good,  as  before  he  loved  the  evil." — Milner,  vol.  ix.  p.  280,  281. 


48 


DISCOURSE  II. 


In  conclusion,  we  would  briefly  endeavour  to 
establish  the  truth  of  this  great  doctrine  by  your 
own  personal  experience.  We  would  say,  then,  to 
those  among  you  who  are  the  most  disinclined  to 
receive  the  important  fact,  that  man  cannot,  by  his 
own  natural  strength,  turn  to  God  ;  what  testimony 
does  your  own  heart  bear  to  its  truth,  or  to  its 
falsehood  ] 

You  have,  from  time  to  time,  heard  the  blessed 
truths  of  the  Gospel  freely  and  fully  proposed  to 
you  ;  you  have  been  told  that  "  its  ways  are  ways 
of  pleasantness,  and  all  its  paths  are  peace  ;"*  you 
have  been  directed  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  an 
all-sufficient  Saviour;  and  at  the  same  time  as  one 
whose  "  yoke  is  easy,  and  his  burden  light  ;"f  you 
have  been  convinced  that  your  mortal  life,  when 
weighed  in  the  balance  against  the  eternity  which 
is  awaiting  you,  is  comparatively  less  than  the 
lightest  particle  of  dust  which  you  can  cast  into 
the  scale :  less  in  duration,  less  in  importance,  less 
in  every  thing  by  which  men  usually  value  the 
objects  of  their  desires.  We  say  you  are  perfectly 
convinced  of  this,  we  will  not  insult  your  under- 
standing, by  supposing,  even  for  a  moment,  that 
you  doubt  it.    Now,  then,  let  us  inquire  whether 

*  Prov.  iii.  17.  t  Matt.  xi.  30. 


ARTICLE  X. 


19 


these  acknowledged  truths  have  produced  that  in- 
fluence upon  your  hearts  and  lives,  which,  if  you 
believe  them  to  be  true,  every  individual  would 
most  unhesitatingly  assume  them  to  have  produced. 
Are  you  at  this  moment,  living  to  that  little  speck 
of  time,  of  which  you  cannot  conceal  from  your- 
self your  utter  contempt,  or  to  that  eternity,  the 
grandeur  and  the  dignity,  and  the  unutterable  im- 
portance of  which,  overpowers  your  contempla- 
tions? in  other  words,  are  you  making  God,  and 
his  Christ,  and  his  heaven,  and  his  "great  salva- 
tion," the  first  objects  of  your  thoughts,  your 
motives,  your  actions,  your  life,  or  this  world,  and 
its  contemptible  littleness? 

If  you  are  honest,  you  may  possibly  be  com- 
pelled to  confess  that,  notwithstanding  all  your 
convictions,  your  hearts,  your  thoughts,  your  life, 
are  the  world's,  and  the  world's  alone.  If  so,  can 
you,  after  this,  attempt  to  impugn  the  doctrine 
which  has  this  day  been  set  before  you,  that  man 
"  cannot  turn  and  prepare  himself  by  his  own 
natural  strength,  to  faith,  and  calling  upon  God  ?" 
You  are  yourself*  yes,  every  ungodly  man  is,  a 
living  testimony  to  its  truth.  Upon  every  other 
subject  so  entirely  affecting  self,  your  own  peace, 
your  own  welfare,  your  own  happiness,  a  thou- 
5 


50  DISCOURSE  II. 

sandth  part  of  the  reasoning,  the  exhortation,  the 
conviction  which  you  possess  on  this,  would  have 
been  sufficient,  and  more  than  sufficient,  to  have 
produced  a  distinct  and  striking  practical  result. 
Half  this  degree  of  conviction,  for  instance,  that 
you  were  heir  to  an  estate,  and  would  you  never 
yet  have  sought  it  ?   Half  this  degree  of  assurance, 
that  your  house  was  in  flames,  and  would  you 
never  yet  have  stirred  one  step  to  escape  them? 
It  would  be  trifling  to  make  such  inquiries  seriously. 
You  know  that  you  would.    Then  why  has  no  real 
result  been  produced  by  your  convictions  with  re- 
gard to  time  and  eternity?    You  will  perhaps  at- 
tempt to  evade  the  full  force  of  the  reply  by 
saying,  because  you  have  not  deemed  it  necessary ; 
because  you  do  not  consider  that  such  a  change 
of  heart  and  life  are  really  needed  :  because  you 
have  always  intended  to  effect  this  change,  at 
some  future  time,  but  it  has  not  been  your  pleasure 
to  effect  now.    It  is  in  vain  to  answer  thus ;  the 
only  answer  which  would  on  any  other  subject 
satisfy  a  man  of  common  consideration,  is  that 
with  which  the  Word  of  God  has  furnished  us, 
and  which  is  equally  irrefragable  upon  this,  viz., 
because  "  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  foolishness  unto 


ARTICLE  X. 


51 


him,  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are 
spiritually  discerned,"*  because,  therefore,  you 
"  cannot  turn  and  prepare  yourself  by  your  own 
natural  strength  and  good  works  to  faith  and  call- 
ing upon  God,"  and  you  have  never  either  desired 
or  sought  a  better  strength  than  your  own.  Here 
is  the  reason  that  in  spite  of  your  convictions,  you 
are  at  this  moment,  all  that  you  have  ever  been ; 
a  believer  in  an  eternity,  and  yet  devoted  to  the 
follies  and  trifles  of  time ;  a  professed  follower  of 
God,  and  yet  living  six-sevenths  of  your  days  in 
an  almost  total  forgetfulness  of  Him ;  the  possessor 
of  a  jewel  of  unutterable  value,  and  yet  your 
thoughts,  and  desires  all  centered,  and  settled,  upon 
the  care  of  the  worthless  casket,  in  which,  for  a 
few  short  years,  it  is  contained. 

Do  not  imagine,  that  if  this  solution  be  the  true 
one,  then  may  you  sit  down  contentedly,  and  say, 
"  I  am  not  turned  to  God,  and  I  cannot  turn  myself 
to  him;  therefore  at  least  I  am  guiltless,  and  if  I 
perish,  I  perish  at  an  unjust  tribunal."  No,  bre- 
thren, we  must  not  leave  you  with  a  feeling  so  false, 
and  so  derogatory  to  the  character  of  Him  with 
whom  you  have  to  do.  We  grant  that  you  are 
not  turned  to  God,  and  that  you  cannot  turn  your- 

*  1  Cor.  ii.  14. 


52 


DISCOURSE  II. 


self-—  that  you  cannot  be  turned,  as  the  Article 
says,  "  by  your  own  natural  strength."  Here, 
then,  is  the  solution  of  the  whole  matter.  You 
have  contented  yourself  with  striving,  if  you  have 
striven  at  all,  in  your  own  "  natural  strength," 
while  a  giant's  arm  is  upon  you,  and  unseen  by 
you,  holds  you  down  to  earth,  with  a  power  which 
laughs  your  feebleness  to  scorn.  You  have  strug- 
gled to  arise  from  your  thraldom,  and  shake  off 
your  enemy,  while  in  fact  you  are  utterly  unable, 
even  to  turn  yourself  beneath  his  grasp.  Let  us 
then  suppose  that  now,  for  the  first  time,  your  eyes 
are  open  to  your  real  state, — and  what  are  you  to 
do?  Be  not  dismayed;  look  fairly  at  this  enemy 
who  is  standing  over  you,  and  under  whose 
bondage  you  have  so  long  lingered ;  it  is  your  own 
corrupt  will  Struggle  no  longer  then,  in  your 
natural  strength,  in  the  unequal  conflict ;  it  is 
enough  to  see  your  enemy — to  know  that  by  you 
he  must  for  ever  be  invincible  :  it  would  be  a  con- 
tradiction in  terms,  to  say,  even  that  you  ever 
willingly  or  heartily  opposed  him ;  every  faculty 
of  the  mind,  every  affection  of  the  heart,  is  a  dis- 
guised traitor,  and  in  reality  in  league  with  him. 
If  you  are  in  earnest  in  your  opposition,  your 
course  is  plain,  and  the  victory  is  insured  to  you. 


ARTICLE  X. 


53 


Call  on  the  strong  for  strength,  cease  from  your 
own  unaided  efforts,  cry  with  "  an  exceeding  great 
and  bitter  cry,"  for  help  from  the  sanctuary  and 
strength  from  out  of  Zion;  cry  with  the  heart- 
broken consciousness  of  utter  helplessness  which 
the  Apostle  felt  when  he  cried,  "  O  wretched  man 
that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of 
this  death  !"*  And  "  if  the  Son  therefore  shall 
make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed."f  Be 
assured,  this  is  no  doubtful  declaration,  for  has  he 
not  himself  declared,  "  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how 
much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  |"J  Is  it  not 
then  a  certainty,  as  much  as  the  existence  or  the 
love  of  God  himself  is  a  certainty,  that  there 
never  was,  and  that  there  shall  never  be,  an  in- 
stance of  one  human  being  who  shall  cry  in  sin- 
cerity, "  Turn  thou  us,  O  good  Lord,  and  so  shall 
we  be  turned,"§  who  shall  not  experience  the 
power  of  his  God  exerted  in  his  behalf,  and  who 
by  that  invincible  power  shall  not  be  brought  into 
the  glorious  liberty  wherewith  Christ  makes  his 
people  free.||    Yes,  brethren,  be  but  earnest,  per- 

*  Rom.  vii.  34.  t  John  viii.  36.  X  Luke  xi.  13. 

§  Service  for  Ash-Wednesday.  |]  See  Gal.  v.  1. 

5* 


54 


DISCOURSE  II. 


severing  in  your  entreaties,  and  you  shall  be  re- 
lieved from  the  bondage  from  which  no  human 
power  can  liberate  you ;  your  will  shall  still  be 
free,  but  then,  free  not  as  at  present,  to  serve  and 
follow  sin,  but  free  to  love  and  obey  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent;  free  "to  run  the 
way  of  God's  commandments ;"  free  to  choose 
those  commands  as  among  your  greatest  blessings; 
free  to  "  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward 
man,"*  and  to  exclaim  with  him  of  old,  respect- 
ing all  that  now  appears  to  you  irksome  and  bur- 
densome, and  even  hateful,  "  0  how  1  love  thy 
law  !"f 

To  the  people  of  God  among  you,  time  will  only 
allow  me  to  speak  a  single  word ;  to  you  this  doc- 
trine is  a  blessed  and  a  soul-encouraging  doctrine* 
You  delight  in  referring  all  to  God  ;  you  love  to 
acknowledge  that  he  alone  has  made  you  to  differ 
from  others,  and  to  return  all  the  praise  and  ail  the 
glory  to  his  holy  name.  Bear  in  mind  only,  more 
and  more  continually,  the  purpose  for  which  he 
first  worked  in  you,  that  you  might  have  a  good 
will,  and  now  works  with  you,  since  you  have  this 
good  will ;  it  was  that  you  might  be  "  a  chosen 
generation^  a  royal  priesthood,  an  holy  nation," 

*  Rom.  vii.  22.  t  Ps.  cxix.  97.         \  Pet.  ii.  9. 


ARTICLE  X. 


55 


"  a  peculiar  people  zealous  of  good  works."*  Ful- 
fil, then,  by  God's  grace,  the  great  end  of  your 
being ;  devote  all  you  are,  and  all  you  have,  to  his 
holy  and  happy  service,  "Being  confident  of  this 
very  thing,  that  He  which  hath  begun  a  good 
work  in  you,  will  perform  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus 
Christ."t 

*  Titus  ii.  14.  t  Phil.  i.  6. 


56 


DISCOURSE  III. 


DISCOURSE  III. 

GALATIANS  II.  part  of  ver.  16. 

"  We  have  believed  in  Jesus  Christ,  that  we  might  be  justi- 
fied by  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  not  by  the  works  of  the 
law ;  for  by  the  works  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh  be  justi- 
fied." 

As  in  commencing  the  consideration  of  that  Ar- 
ticle of  our  Church  which  we  brought  before  you 
on  Sunday  last,  we  were  constrained  to  say  that  it 
was  the  most  difficult  that  would  come  under  our 
notice,  so  we  must  say  of  that  which  is  to  form 
our  subject  to-day,  that  it  is  the  most  important, 
and  the  most  comfortable  of  all  the  Articles  pro- 
pounded by  our  Church.  It  is  the  most  important ! 
for  what  question  can  for  a  moment  be  put  in  com- 
petition with  the  inquiry,  "  What  shall  I  do  to  be 
saved?"  It  is  the  most  comfortable!  for  what  an- 
swer can  stand  an  instant's  comparison  with  the 
reply,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved." 

We  need  not  inform  you  that  this  inquiry  and  this 
reply,  are  embodied  in  the  Article  now  before  us. 


ARTICLE  XI. 


57 


"XI.  Of  the  Justification  of  Man." 
Before  we  read  the  Article,  let  us  come  to  a 
clear  and  distinct  understanding  of  the  subject  upon 
which  it  treats.  What  then  is  meant  by  "  the  justi- 
fication of  man?"  It  is  certainly  not  merely  his 
pardon,  for  the  idea  of  pardon  is  very  distinct  from 
and  very  inferior  to  the  idea  of  justification.  Con- 
ceive, for  an  instance,  a  prisoner  charged  with 
some  crime,  and  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  his 
country.  He  is  found  guilty  of  the  crime  laid  to 
his  charge,  but  he  is  afterwards  pardoned.  He 
escapes  the  punishment  of  his  guilt,  but  he  does  not 
escape  the  imputation  of  guilt ;  he  is  not  justified. 
The  judge  looks  upon  that  man  as  a  guilty  man, 
and  he  must  for  ever  look  upon  himself  in  the  same 
light.  Nothing  can  replace  the  pardoned  criminal 
precisely  in  the  same  position  in  society,  which  he 
occupied  before  he  committed,  or  was  convicted  of 
a  crime.  Now  suppose  a  prisoner  charged  with 
some  delinquency,,  of  which  it  appears  upon  his 
trial  that  another  man  is  the  perpetrator,  and  that 
he  is  wholly  innocent.  In  this  case  he  leaves  the 
bar  with  a  very  different  character  from  the  for- 
mer ;  he  departs  an  innocent  man,  without  the 
shadow  of  an  imputation  resting  upon  his  charac- 
ter ;  he  is,  in  fact,  completely  justified  in  the  eyes 
of  the  judge,  of  the  jury,  of  himself,  and  of  all  the 


58 


DISCOURSE  III. 


world.    The  question  then  before  us  is  this.  How 
can  a  man  stand  before  the  tribunal  of  God  and 
come  away  from  that  tribunal,  not  merely  pardon- 
ed, but,  as  in  the  case  we  have  been  imagining,  ac- 
tually innocent,  perfectly  justified,  no  stigma  left 
upon  his  character,  no  stain  upon  his  conscience, 
no  spot  of  sin  upon  his  soul  ?  It  is  clear  that  it  can- 
not be,  as  in  the  case  we  have  imagined,  by  his  never 
having  transgressed,  because  as  the  law  of  God 
now  stands,  and  as  we  have  already  demonstrated, 
(while  considering  the  9th  Article,)  "  there  is  no 
man  that  sinneth  not."*  It  must  therefore  be  either 
by  a  total  change  in  the  law  which  he  has  broken, 
so  that  when  tried  according  to  its  provisions  it 
may  appear  that  he  never  has  transgressed  ;  or  by 
some  other  method  which  although  it  cannot  find 
an  exact  parallel  in  human  judicature,  has  been 
originated  and  acted  upon  by  the  King  of  kings, 
and  Lord  of  lords. 

By  the  first  of  these,  the  change  or  abrogation  of 
the  law  of  God,  this  justification  can  certainly  never 
be  effected ;  for  our  Lord  has  said  respecting  that 
moral  law,  to  which  we  refer,  and  which  we  all 
have  broken,  "One  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no 
wise  pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled."t  There- 


*  1  Kings  viii.  46. 


t  Matt.  v.  18. 


ARTICLE  XI. 


50 


fore,  there  can  be  no  hope  of  a  change  in  the  ver- 
dict, from  any  change  in  the  law.  It  is  then  to 
some  other  method  that  man  must  look  to  be  ac- 
counted innocent,  nay  more  than  innocent,  to  be  ac- 
tually righteous  before  God.  And  the  intention  of 
the  11th  Article  is  simply  to  propound  this  method. 
These  are  the  words  of  the  Article,  "  We  are  ac- 
counted righteous  before  God,  only  for  the  merit  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  by  faith,  and  not 
for  our  own  works  or  deservings." 

The  method  then  appears  to  be  this,  that  in  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  God  of  his  infinite 
mercy  has  provided  for  us  a  surety  or  a  substitute, 
who  shall  do  for  us  what  we  could  never  do  for 
ourselves,  viz.  offer  to  God  a  most  perfect  and  un- 
exceptionable obedience,  and  that  for  the  sake  of 
this  obedience  even  unto  death,  involving  therefore 
all  the  unspeakable  merits  of  the  atonement,  we, 
who  believe,  should  be  "  accounted  righteous  before 
God."  Or,  as  expressed  in  the  language  of  Scripture, 
"He  hath  made  Him  to  be  sin  for  us  who  knew 
no  sin  ;  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of 
God  in  Him."* 

The  Article  then  continues,  "  Wherefore,  that 
we  are  justified  by  faith  only,  is  a  most  wholesome 

«  2  Cor.  v.  21. 


60  DISCOURSE  III. 

doctrine,  and  very  full  of  comfort;  as  is  more 
largely  expressed  in  the  Homily  of  Justification."* 

Strictly  speaking,  as  you  will  have  seen  from  the 
former  part  of  the  Article,  we  are  justified  by  the 
merits  of  Christ  only;  when  the  Article,  therefore, 
says, "  we  are  justified  by  faith  only,"  it  merely  refers 
the  effect,  from  the  cause,  to  the  instrument.  The 
merits  of  Christ  are  the  casual  means,  but  faith,  or 
a  simple  reliance  upon  those  merits,  is  the  instru- 
mental means,  and  it  is  quite  clear  that  it  is  as  cor- 
rect to  state,  that  we  are  justified  by  the  one,  as  by 
the  other. 

But  while  we  are  thus  exalting  faith,  we  must  be 
careful  to  remember  that  it  is  but  an  instrument. 
It  connects  the  sinner  with  the  Saviour,  but  that  is 
all;  as  to  its  own  merit,  faith  is  as  worthless  as 
hope,  or  joy,  or  love,  or  any  other  grace,  in  causing 
or  deserving  the  justification  of  its  possessor.  This 
is  very  strikingly  asserted  at  the  close  of  the  2d  part 
of  "  The  Homily  on  Salvation,"  where  it  is  said  that 
"  John  the  Baptist,  although  a  virtuous  and  godly 
man,  referred  all  the  people  from  himself  to  Christ, 
for  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins,  saying,  '  Behold, 
yonder  is  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sins 

»  It  is  singular  that  there  should  be  no  Homily  with  this  title. 
There  can,  however,  be  little  doubt  that  the  Homily  entitled,  "  Of 
the  salvation  of  all  mankind,"  is  here  referred  to. 


ARTICLE  XI. 


61 


of  the  world.'  (John  i.  '29.)  So  our  faith  in  Christ  saith 
unto  us  thus : — It  is  not  I  that  take  away  your  sins, 
but  it  is  Christ  only  ;  and  to  him  only  I  send  you 
for  that  purpose,  forsaking  therein  all  your  good 
virtues,  words,  thoughts,  and  works,  and  only  put- 
ting your  trust  in  God."* 

To  demonstrate  that  this  great  doctrine  of  Justifi- 
cation by  faith  only,  is  "  wholesome,"  as  our  Article 
calls  it,  or  sound,  it  would  be  necessary  and  it 
would  be  perfectly  easy  to  show  that  it  is,  in  fact, 
the  one  great  leading  doctrine  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation.  As  our  time  will  not  admit  of  this,  we 
can  only  assert  that,  every  portion  of  the  book  of 
inspiration  preaches  the  truth,  which  the  Apostle 
preaches  when  he  says,  "  That  no  man  is  justified 
by  the  law  in  the  sight  of  God,  it  is  evident :  for, 
The  just  shall  live  by  faith. "f  "  Therefore,  we  con- 
clude that  a  man  is  justified  by  faith  without  the 
deeds  of  the  law."J  And  still  more  distinctly  in  the 
text,  "  We  have  believed  in  Jesus  Christ,  that  we 
might  be  justified  by  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  not  by 
the  works  of  the  law  ;  for,  by  the  works  of  the  law 
shall  no  flesh  be  justified."  Indeed  these  quotations 
are  of  themselves  amply  sufficient ;  for  if  it  be  the 

*  Homilies,  8vo.  Oxford,  p.  23. 
+  Gal.  iii.  11.  |  Rom.  iii.  28. 

6 


62  DISCOURSE  III. 

unerring  Word  of  God,  one  assertion  of  that  Word 
is  as  convincing,  as  one  thousand,    If  it  be  objected 
to  this  statement,  that  when  the  Apostles  so  clearly 
assert  that  no  man  is  justified  by  works,  they  gene- 
rally add,  by  the  "  works  of  the  law,"  and  always 
intend  the  ceremonial  law,  it  may  not  be  useless  to 
mention,  that  precisely  the  same  thing  is  said  of 
Abraham,  "  If  Abraham  were  justified  by  works,  he 
hath  whereof  to  glory,"*  while  we  need  not  remind 
you  that  Abraham  was  justified  more  than  400 
years  before  the  ceremonial  law  was  given.    It  is 
then  too  obvious  to  admit  of  argument,  that  the  de- 
clarations of  the  Apostles  include  all  laws  and  all 
works,  and  distinctly  assert  that  in  the  matter  of 
justifying  a  sinner  before  God,  all  ceremonies,  all 
obedience,  all  virtues,  all  graces,  all  Christian  duties, 
all  Christian  ordinances  are  utterly  and  entirely 
fruitless,  and  that  "  the  merits  of  Christ  Jesus  alone," 
applied  to  each  heart  by  a  true  and  living  faith, 
must  form  the  plea  of  each  individual,  of  all  that 
countless  multitude  who  shall  be  acknowledged  as 
the  accepted  people  of  God,  and  shall  dwell  around 
the  throne  of  God,  and  of  the  Lamb,  throughout 
eternity. 

We  shall  not  occupy  your  time  by  quotations 


«  Rom.  iv.  2. 


ARTICLK  XI. 


69 


from  the  Homilies,  because  the  particular  Homily 
referred  to  in  the  Article  (viz.,  the  Three  Parts  of 
il  the  Homily  on  the  Salvation  of  man,"*)  is  so 
replete  with  this  doctrine,  that  none  who  will  take 
the  trouble  to  refer  to  it,  can  fail  of  conviction. 
We  shall  content  ourselves  in  corroboration  of  the 
doctrine,  with  a  passage  from  the  celebrated  ser- 
mon of  the  judicious  Hooker  on  Justification, 
which  deserves  your  attention  not  more  from  the 
great  name  of  its  Author,  than  from  its  own  dis- 
tinctness and  beauty.  "  The  righteousness  wherein 
we  must  be  found,"  says  this  admirable  writer,  "  if 
we  will  be  justified,  is  not  our  own  ;  therefore,  we 
cannot  be  justified  by  any  inherent  quality.  Christ 
hath  merited  righteousness  for  as  many  as  are 
found  in  Him.  In  Him  God  findeth  us,  if  we  be 
faithful ;  for  by  faith  we  are  incorporated  into 
Christ.  Then,  although  in  ourselves,  we  be  al- 
together sinful  and  unrighteous,  yet  even  the  man 
who  is  impious  in  himself,  full  of  iniquity,  full  of 
sin,  him  being  found  in  Christ  through  faith,  and 
having  his  sin  remitted  through  repentance;  him 
God  beholdeth  with  a  gracious  eye,  putteth  away 
his  sin  by  not  imputing  it,  taketh  away  the  punish- 

*  This  Homily  is  from  the  Pen  of  Archbishop  Cranmer  him- 
self.—See  Cranmer's  Works.    Oxford,  1S33. 


64 


DISCOURSE  III. 


ment  due  thereto  by  pardoning  it,  and  accepteth 
him  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  perfectly  righteous  as  if  he 
had  fulfilled  all  that  was  commanded  him  in  the 
law — shall  I  say,  more  perfectly  righteous  than  if 
himself  had  fulfilled  the  whole  law.  I  must  take 
heed  what  I  say ;  but  the  Apostle  saith,  '  God  made 
Him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin,  that  we 
might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him.' 
Such  we  are  in  the  sight  of  God  the  Father,  as  is 
the  very  Son  of  God  himself.  Let  it  be  counted 
folly,  or  frenzy,  or  fury,  or  whatsoever,  it  is  our 
comfort  and  our  wisdom ;  we  care  for  no  know- 
ledge in  the  world  but  this,  that  man  hath  sinned 
and  God  hath  suffered,  that  God  hath  made  him- 
self the  Son  of  Man,  and  that,  men  are  made  the 
righteousness  of  God/' 

We  shall,  therefore,  consider  the  wholesomeness 
or  soundness  of  the  great  doctrine  in  question, 
abundantly  established,  and  proceed  to  consider 
the  comfort  of  it.  The  Article  asserts  that  this 
truth,  "  we  are  justified  by  faith  only,"  is,  "  very 
full  of  comfort."  To  prove  this  to  those  among 
you,  who,  by  Divine  grace,  have  been  led  to  the 
full  reception  of  its  peace-giving  declarations,  will 
be  sufficiently  easy,  but  to  convince  those  to  whom 
it  is  at  present  experimentally  unknown,  is  indeed 


ARTICLE  XI. 


65 


a  most  difficult,  and,  of  ourselves,  a  hopeless  task. 
One  thing,  however,  we  may  attempt :  we  may- 
show  you  that  your  present  doctrine  is  an  un- 
comfortable one,  so  uncomfortable,  that  as  long 
as  you  retain  it,  you  can  never  know  that  "  peace 
of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding,"*  the  last, 
best  legacy  which  the  Prince  of  Peace  bequeathed 
to  his  faithful  followers. 

We  need  not  particularize  all  those  different 
methods  which  the  pride,  or  the  ignorance,  or 
the  wisdom  of  man  has  invented  to  occupy  the 
place  of  this  great  doctrine  of  the  Bible.  We 
may  class  them  together,  and  address  all  those 
among  you  who  have  been  deceived  by  any  one 
of  them  in  the  same  language.  We  address  you, 
then,  who  are  hoping  at  the  last  great  day,  that 
you  shall  be  "  accounted  righteous"  because  God 
is  merciful,  and  you  have  endeavoured  to  do  your 
duty  honestly,  and  uprightly,  and  virtuously  in  your 
different  vocations:  You,  also,  who  in  addition  to 
this  plea  of  the  correctness  of  your  moral  duties, 
have  provided  yourself  with  another,  and  hope, 
that  having  in  the  different  relations  of  life  per- 
formed your  own  part  well,  the  merits  of  the  Lord 

*  Phil.  iv.  7. 
6* 


66 


DISCOURSE  III. 


Jesus  Christ  will  avail  to  fill  up  your  deficiencies : 
You,  again,  who  have  gone  beyond  the  two  pre- 
ceding classes,  and  hope,  that  correct  moral  duties, 
and  assiduous  attention  to  spiritual  duties,  to  prayer, 
to  sacraments,  to  reading  the  Scripture,  will  -fully 
supply  your  portion,  and,  the  merits  of  the  Saviour 
being  freely  added  to  them,  cannot  fail  to  satisfy 
God.  We  address  you,  one  and  all,  and  say  upon 
the  authority  of  the  Word  of  God  and  of  our 
Church,  that  your  views  are  not  only  as  we  have 
proved  them  to  be,  unwholesome,  but  most  uncom- 
fortable. They  are  all  founded  upon  this  one  great 
error,  that  God  will  accept  an  imperfect  obedience 
if  it  be  sincere,  in  the  place  of  that  perfect  obe- 
dience which  He  has  a  right  to  claim,  and  which 
He  unquestionably  does  claim,  at  the  hand  of  every 
individual  sent  into  the  world. 

We  ask  you  then  from  what  portion  of  the  re- 
vealed Word  you  derive  this  opinion?  We  can 
show  you  the  first  great  declaration  respecting 
obedience;  it  is  this,  "Do  this  and  live,"  or  as 
amplified  and  explained  by  Moses,  "  Cursed  is 
every  one  that  continueth  not  in  all  things  that 
are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."* 
You  will  observe,  there  is  not  a  single  exception  ; 

*  Gal.  iii.  10. 


ARTICLE  XI. 


67 


you  must  do  all  the  things  that  God  commands ; 
and  more,  you  must  "  continue,"  yes,  from  the 
hour  of  your  birth,  to  the  moment  of  your  death, 
you  must  continue  to  do  them  all,  or  there  is  no 
hope  from  this  Covenant.  Now  we  ask  you  in 
return  to  show  us  from  the  Word  of  God,  any 
single  passage,  or  any  correct  combination  of  pas- 
sages, to  prove  that  God  has,,  under  the  gospel  dis- 
pensation, ever  modified  this  command  first  given 
to  Adam,  and  reiterated  to  Moses ;  that  God  has 
ever  promised  to  accept  those  who  endeavour  con- 
scientiously to  "  continue  in  all  things  that  are 
written  in  the  book  of  the  law,"  to  do  them,  al- 
though they  only  imperfectly  succeed  in  the  endea- 
vour. It  is  impossible.  There  is  no  such  passage 
to  be  found.  It  would  be  an  insult  to  the  purity, 
and  holiness,  and  justice- of  God  to  expect  to  find 
it.  God  can  accept  nothing  but  a  perfect  obe- 
dience, or  He  would  cease  to  be  a  perfect  God. 
Yx)u  are  standing  then  altogether  upon  a  wrong, 
a  false,  an  unwholesome  imagination, — a  mere 
imagination,,  no  shadow  of  foundation  for  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Scripture  of  truth.  The  only 
difference  that  God  has  ever  made  in  this  first 
great  law  of  perfect  and  unerring  obedience,  is, 
that  when  it  became  manifest  that  no  perfect  law 


68  DISCOURSE  III. 

could  be  given  which  man  would  keep,  a  perfect 
God  who  would  neither  offer  an  imperfect  law,  nor 
accept  an  imperfect  obedience  to  a  perfect  law, 
sent  His  only-begotten  Son  into  the  world  to  ren- 
der this  perfect  obedience,  which  no  created  being 
had  ever  rendered.  Therefore  we  find  in  the  lan- 
guage of  prophecy  the  Saviour  saying,  "  A  body 
hast  thou  prepared  me,  Lo  !  I  come  to  do  thy  will, 
O  my  God."*  I  come  to  do  what  has  never  yet 
been  done,  to  work  out  and  "  to  bring  in  everlast- 
ing righteousness."  God  therefore  obtained  from 
the  Surety  that  which  He  could  never  have  re- 
ceived from  us,  and  God  still  exacts  this  perfect 
righteousness  from  every  individual  who  approaches 
Him ;  but  now,  as  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  or, 
as  it  is  called  in  Scripture,  "  the  righteousness  of 
God,"  it  is  ready  for  every  believing  penitent  who 
is  willing  to  receive  it  and  to  come  before  God, 
clothed  in  that,  and  in  that  alone,  and  desiring 
with  the  Apostle  to  be  found  in  Him,  (i.  e.,  in 
Christ,)  "  not  having  mine  own  righteousness  which 
is  of  the  law,  but  that  which  is  through  the  faith 
of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God  by 
faith." 

But  grant  for  a  moment  that  the  scheme  which 

*  Hcb.  x.  5 ;  Psalm  xl.  7;  Heb.  x.  7. 


ARTICLE  XI. 


69 


we  have  been  contending  against  were  really  true 
and  "  wholesome,"  and  would  it  not  be  still  most 
uncomfortable  1  For  suppose  that  your  views  were 
correct;  that  together  with  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  there  must  be,  in  the  way  of  merit,  some- 
thing of  your  own  to  offer,  before  you  can  feel  that 
you  are  "  accounted  righteous  before  God  ;"  that 
like  the  Israelites  of  old,  you  have  a  certain  "  tale  of 
bricks"  to  render;  then,  we  would  ask,  who  is  to 
count  them  off  at  the  end  of  each  day's  work,  and 
give  you  your  discharge,  and  suffer  you  to  lie 
down  in  quiet  1  Who  is  to  tell  you  when  the  tale 
is  complete,  and  when  you  are  really  justified  before 
God  1  In  the  true  scheme  of  the  Gospel  this  is  so 
easily  ascertained,  that  the  veriest  babe  in  Christ 
could  answer  you.  He  would  tell  you  that  when, 
by  God's  grace,  you  close  with  the  offers  of  a  cru- 
cified, and  all-sufficient  Saviour,  and  cast  your  soul 
upon  Him  in  a  holy  and  scriptural  confidence,  that 
he  has  power  enough,  and  grace  enough,  to  receive 
you,  to  pardon  you  fully,  and  to  love  you  freely — 
that  even  then,  we  may  say  to  you,  as  St.  John  to 
the  young  converts  in  his  days,  "  I  write  unto  you, 
little  children,  because  your  sins  are  forgiven  you 
for  his  name's  sake,"  that  you  are  then  accounted 
righteous  before  God,  that  you  then  begin  to  "  run 


70 


DISCOURSE  III. 


with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  you,  look- 
ing unto  Jesus  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith." 
This  is  God's  method  of  justifying  the  sinner.  How 
different  is  your  own  !  you  can  never  feel  assured 
that  you  are  really  justified  before  God.  The  "full 
assurance  of  faith,"  as  the  Apostle  to  the  Hebrews 
calls  it,  must  ever  be  unknown  to  you  ;  there  must 
always  be,  even  to  the  most  scrupulous,  and  most 
careful,  and  most  pains-taking  among  you,  a  strong 
degree  of  uncertainty  and  doubt.  You  will  always 
be  subject  to  some  such  corroding  and  distressing 
feelings  as  these — "  That  act  of  charity  was  misera- 
bly imperfect,  such  a  mingling  of  motives,  such  a 
deficiency  of  love !"  "  That  prayer  could  never 
reach  the  mercy-seat,  such  wandering  thoughts, 
such  unholy  imaginations  !"  "  That  duty  can  never 
be  well-pleasing  to  my  heavenly  Father,  such  re- 
luctance and  unwillingness,  and  almost  dislike,  even 
during  the  performance  !"  "  Can  I  have  done,  shall  I 
ever  do,  my  part  in  this  great  work  ?"  Such,  if 
really  conscientious,  will  be  the  feelings  even  of  the 
best  of  those  among  you  who  are  looking  to  any 
thing,  however  trifling,  however  minute,  to  fill  up 
the  measure  of  the  meritorious  offering  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  as  the  procuring  cause  of  your  justifi- 
cation.   And  such,  although  they  know  it  not,  is 


ARTICLE  XI. 


71 


one  of  the  most  frequent  causes  of  the  dispiriting 
and  gloomy  feelings  which  religion  imparts  to  nine- 
tenths  of  those  who  make  a  kind  of  outward  pro- 
fession of  it,  without  really  obtaining  the  full  and 
genuine  feeling  of  the  great  truth  of  the  text  within 
their  souls.  We  have  often,  in  the  course  of  our 
ministry,  seen  those  whose  days  and  nights  have 
been  occupied  upon  this  important  subject,  reading, 
praying,  thinking,  striving,  wearied  in  duties  until 
they  become  irksome  and  almost  hateful,  and  yet 
never  knowing  the  feeling  of  a  settled  peace  of  soul. 
And  why  ?  simply  because  they  have  never  been 
rightly  instructed  in  the  great  work — have  never 
been  taught  to  look  altogether  from  themselves,  and 
their  own  performances,  to  obtain  peace — have 
never  been  led  to  cast  themselves  fully,  entirely,  and 
unreservedly,  upon  the  "  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient 
sacrifice"  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Until  this  be 
done,  there  can  be  no  justification,  no  pardon,  and 
therefore  no  abiding  scriptural  peace. 

If  we  speak  to  any  such  at  present,  we  would  en- 
treat you  to  listen  while  we  address  a  few  words  to 
the  true  people  of  God,  and  may  you  learn  by  hear- 
ing what  they  possess,  to  discover  what  you  stand  in 
need  of. 

To  you,  then,  Christian  brethren,  we  apply  the 


72 


DISCOURSE  III. 


words  of  the  text,  and  say,  "  You  have  believed  in 
Jesus  Christ  that  you  might  be  justified  by  the  faith 
of  Christ,  and  not  by  the  works  of  the  law."  But 
whence  was  this?  Were  you  born  thus?  Was 
there  never  a  period  when  you  also  were  standing 
aside,  without  any  feelings  of  religion  which  could 
be  pronounced,  "  very  full  of  comfort  V9  Was 
there  never  a  time  when  any  among  you  felt  it  diffi- 
cult even  to  thank  God  for  your  creation,  (as  our 
Church  teaches  you  to  do,)  because  you  were  so 
uncertain  as  to  the  coming  eternity,  that  you  felt 
your  creation  rather  a  grievance  than  a  blessing  to 
you  ?  And  what  has  made  you  thus  different  from 
your  former  selves'?  How  are  you  now  enabled  to 
say,  even  from  the  ground  of  your  hearts,  "  Lord, 
it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here ;"  with  all  the  trials  and 
the  troubles  of  life,  I  bless  thee  for  my  creation  ;  I 
bless  thee  for  calling  me  to  pass  over  this  little 
isthmus  between  two  eternities,  because  I  have, 
through  thy  grace,  obtained  the  promise  of  the  life 
which  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come.  I  ask 
you,  Christian  brethren,  how  did  you  obtain  this 
comfortable,  peaceful,  blessed  feeling  ?  Did  you 
acquire  it  from  the  proud  consciousness  of  what  is 
called  a  well-spent  life  ?  Did  you  obtain  it  by 
looking  back  upon  a  perfect  obedience  to  a  perfect 


ARTICLE  XI. 


73 


law,  which  was  fully  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  strictest 
demands  of  God  1  Surely  not  thus  did  you  acquire 
your  present  peace  and  your  hope  of  future  glory, 
or  the  inspired  Word  of  our  God  would  not  have 
declared,  "If  there  had  been  a  law  given  which 
could  have  given  life,  verily  righteousness  would 
have  been  of  the  law."  No,  the  law  did  for  you  that 
for  which  it  was  given — not  to  insure  a  perfect 
obedience,  but  to  convict  you  of  your  imperfect 
obedience :  thus  it  became  your  schoolmaster  to 
bring  you  to  Christ.  You  have  so  frequently 
broken  its  precepts,  and  deserved  its  punishments, 
that  although  you  have  retained  it,  and  ever  will 
retain  it,  as  a  rule  of  life,  you  have  long  since  given 
up  the  idea  of  a  meritorious  obedience  to  it  as  utter- 
ly hopeless,  and  you  have  fled  from  the  terrors  of  a 
broken  law  to  the  love,  and  compassion,  and 
righteousness  of  a  crucified  Saviour.  You  dis- 
covered, by  the  teaching  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  that 
you  must  go  to  Christ,  and  to  Christ  alone,  for  the 
means  of  justification  before  God,  and  by  the  aid  of 
that  Spirit  you  approached  the  Saviour,  and  fell  at 
his  feet,  and  cried,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sin- 
ner." You  went  for  pardon  and  for  justification  ; 
you  carried  nothing  with  you  but  your  sins,  and  a 
most  earnest,  heartfelt  desire,  to  repent  of  them  and 
7 


74 


DISCOURSE  III. 


forsake  them  ;  you  went  simply  to  receive,  not  to 
pay ;  you  went  as  a  beggar  for  an  alms,  as  a  cul- 
prit for  your  reprieve,  as  a  condemned  prisoner  for 
your  life ;  you  believed  that  He,  whom  you  sought, 
not  only  could,  but  would  give  what  you  sought. 
And  what  was  the  consequence  ?    You  received  all 
that  you  had  asked — all  that  God  had  promised; 
you  received  pardon  and  acceptance,  forgiveness 
of  all  that  had  gone  before,  grace  and  strength  pro- 
mised and  pledged  to  you,  for  all  that  is  to  come. 
"  Therefore,"  as  the  Apostle  says,  "  therefore  being 
justified  by  faith  you  have  peace  with  God."  You 
have  no  corroding  fears  for  the  past,  no  desponding 
anxieties  for  the  future:  you  cannot  have,  or  at 
least,  you  need  not  have ;  you  have  been  "  account- 
ed righteous  through  the  merits  of  Christ,"  you 
have  been  made  partaker  of  "  the  righteousness  of 
God,  which  is  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and 
upon  all  them  that  believe  ;"  yes,  "  unto  all  and  upon 
all,"  therefore,  "  unto  and  upon"  the  weakest,  fee- 
blest, youngest  believer,  who  ever  with  the  hand  of 
an  infant  faith,  touched  the  hem  of  the  Saviour's 
garment,  and  with  His  kind  and  merciful  permis- 
sion, drew  that  garment  as  a  covering  over  his  own 
pollution,  and  nakedness,  and  sin. 

There  is  with  you  no  question  now.  whether  you 


ARTICLE  XI. 


75 


have  done  enough  to  co-operate  with  your  Saviour 
in  this  great  work  ;  therefore  there  is  no  doubt 
with  you,  whether  enough  be  done  ;  no  uncertainty 
whether  you  are,  or  are  not,  justified  before  God : 
you  feel  the  full  force  and  consolation  of  the  Apostle's 
words,  "  Therefore  it  is  of  faith,  that  it  might  be  by 
grace  ;  to  the  end  the  promise  might  be  sure  to  all  the 
seed."*  That  it  might  not  be  a  matter  of  doubt,  but  of 
assurance  to  all  the  seed,  to  every  member  in  Christ's 
redeemed  family,  who  has  thus  approached  Him  in 
a  true  and  living  faith,  to  receive  that  as  an  act  of 
free  favour,  which  others,  in  vain,  are  toiling  to 
deserve. 

From  this  point  then,  you  commence  your  Chris- 
tian life  ;  being  justified  freely,  you  now  "run  the 
way  of  God's  commandments,"  "  obeying  from 
the  heart  that  form  of  doctrine  which  has  been  de- 
livered to  you ;"  delighting  in  the  service  of  Him 
who  loved  you,  and  gave  himself  for  you ;  de- 
ploring your  many  short-comings,  repenting  of  your 
many  sins,  but  still  holding  on  your  way,  through 
good  and  ill,  through  weal  and  wo,  the  hand  of 
your  Lord  guiding  and  supporting  you  in  "  all  holi- 
ness and  godliness  of  living,"  and  you  yourselves 
bringing  forth  the  fruits  of  faith,  and  resting  in  a 

*  Rom.  iv.  16. 


76 


DISCOURSE  III. 


simple,  childlike  reliance  upon  the  declaration  of 
our  God,  that  ".whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justi- 
fied, and  whom  he  justified,"*  them  also  he  shall 
one  day  glorify  for  ever  and  ever. 

And  now,  brethren,  we  once  more,  and  only  for 
a  few  moments,  return  to  you  whom  we  before  ad- 
dressed. Do  you  clearly  perceive  the  difference 
between  these  persons  and  yourselves,  as  regards 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ? 

You  are  willing  to  take  the  Saviour  with  you 
when  you  go  up  for  justification  to  the  tribunal  of 
God ;  they  depended  upon  his  taking  them.  You 
would  not  expect  to  be  accounted  righteous  for  your 
own  merits  alone ;  they  would  not  for  a  moment 
imagine  that  they  had  ever  done  a  single  deed  which 
deserved  the  name  of  merit ;  if  reminded  of  them, 
they  would  ask  with  unfeigned  astonishment,  "  Lord, 
when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered,  or  athirst,  or 
naked,  or  in  prison,  and  ministered  unto  thee?"+  To 
you,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  a  valuable  coadjutor ; 
to  them,  he  is  "  all  in  all  ;"J  for  he  is  "  made  unto 
them,  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  sanctification, 
and  redemption."||  You  are  "  working  for  salva- 
tion," as  an  object  at  which  you  shall  one  day 
arrive;  they  are  "  working  from  salvation,"  as  the 

*  Rom.  viii.  30.    t  Matt.  xxv.    1 1  Cor.  xv.  28.     |j  1  Cor.  i.  30. 


ARTICLE  XI.  77 

object  at  which  they  started.  AH  that  you  are  doing 
is  intended  in  some  degree  to  propitiate  God  ;  all 
that  they  are  doing  is  flowing  from  a  sense  of  holy 
obedience,  and  from  a  grateful  love  to  God.  who 
first  loved,  and  pardoned,  and  justified  them.  We 
leave  it  to  yourselves  to  determine  which  of  these 
two  views  must  tend  the  most  to  promote  the  glory 
of  God  our  Father,  the  honour  of  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord,  and  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  his  people. 
But  we  must  not  leave  it  to  you  to  imagine  that 
the  difference  is  slight,  or  immaterial,  that  it  is  a 
mere  difference  in  the  amount  of  comfort,  or  of 
wholesomeness  of  doctrine.  It  is  an  absolute  and 
irreconcilable  difference.  It  is  the  difference  be- 
tween light  and  darkness,  between  life  and  death. 
The  one  view  of  justification  is  a  mere  figment 
from  the  brain  of  man,  the  other  is  the  great  truth 
of  God  which  will  determine  our  eternity  ;  for  upon 
it  will  hang  the  decisions  of  the  day  of  judgment! 
All  religion  is  therefore  utterly  vain  which  does 
not  centre  and  settle  here.  The  unrighteous  cannot 
enter  heaven,  for  thus  has  the  unerring  Word  of 
God  pronounced,  M  Know  ye  not  that  the  unright- 
eous shall  not  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  God  ?"*  but 
then  all  are  unrighteous  until  they  have  been  justified 
*  1  Cor.  vi.  9. 
7* 


'8  DISCOURSE  III. 

by  the  merits  of  the  Lord  Jesus  applied  by  a  living 
faith.  Can  you  resist  the  inference— That  they 
who  are  not  thus  justified,  can  never,  by  any  possi- 
bility, be  admitted  there  ? 

May  God  of  his  infinite  mercy  grant  that  these 
words  may  sink  deep  into  our  hearts,  giving  us  no 
peace,  no  rest,  until  we  have  ascertained  that  this 
great  and  blessed  work  has  been  effected  in  our 
souls,  and  are  thus  enabled  to  experience  the  full 
comfort  of  the  declaration  of  the  Spirit  of  our  God, 
"  There  is  now  no  condemnation  to  them  which  are 
in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but 
after  the  Spirit."* 


*  Rom.  viii.  1. 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


79 


DISCOURSE  IV. 

COL.  I.  part  of  ver.  10. 

"  That  ye  might  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleasing, 
being  fruitful  in  every  good  work. 

It  is  a  remarkable  assertion  of  the  Apostle  to  the 
Corinthians,  but  not  more  remarkable  than  true, 
"Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  charity,  these  three ;  but 
the  greatest  of  these  is  charity."*  And  who  can 
doubt  it !  Without  any  reference  to  the  obvious 
fact,  that  while  the  two  former  are  transitory,  the 
last  is  perpetual,  is  it  not  evident  that  after  all,  faith 
and  hope  are  but  as  the  scaffolding  of  the  spiritual 
house,  while  the  house  itself,  the  glorious  super- 
structure, is  love.  Love  to  God  and  love  to  man  ; 
love  to  every  created  being  throughout  all  time, 
love  to  the  blessed  inmates  of  the  heavenly  mansions 
throughout  eternity.  The  object  then  of  all  re- 
ligion is  to  give  to  fallen  man  the  power  and  the 
will,  which  as  we  have  seen  he  has  not  by  nature, 

*  1  Cor.  xiii.  13. 


80 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


to  live  this  life  of  love  on  earth,  that  he  may  be  fitted 
and  educated  for  the  eternity  of  love  in  heaven. 
Every  thing  connected  with  this  high  feeling  as  re- 
gards our  fellow-men,  is  comprehended  in  Scrip- 
ture in  the  expressive  term,  "Good  works."  And 
it  is  to  this  important  subject,  that  the  12th,  13th, 
and  14th  Articles  will  at  present  direct  our  attention. 

There  are  four  great  errors  continually  springing 
up  in  the  natural  heart  of  man  with  respect  to  this 
deeply  important  topic.  These  have  been  corrected 
by  our  Church  in  the  three  Articles  to  which  I  have 
referred,  and  which  therefore  shall  be  taken  to- 
gether for  the  subject  of  our  consideration.  The 
first  of  these  errors,  viz.  that  a  man  can  be  justified 
before"  God  for  his  works'  sake,  was  sufficiently 
considered  under  the  11th  Article,  and  therefore, 
will  not  now  require  our  attention.  The  second  is 
of  this  nature,  That  all  works  of  honesty,  and 
charity,  and  uprightness,  must  necessarily  be  so 
pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God,  that  let  them  be  per- 
formed by  who  they  may,  they  cannot  fail  to  draw 
down  upon  the  performer  the  love  and  the  grace  or 
favour  of  God ;  that,  in  fact,  they  at  least  render 
men  fit  to  receive  this  favour,  even  if  they  do  not 
actually  purchase  it.  Against  this  error,  an  error 
indeed  expressly  of  the  Pelagians  and  Papists,  but 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


SI 


not  less  expressly  an  error  of  every  natural  and  un- 
converted heart,  the  13th  Article  protests  in  the  fol- 
lowing decisive  manner — 

"  XIII.  Of  Works  before  Justification. 
"  Works  done  before  the  grace  of  Christ — " 
You  will  observe  our  Church  takes  especial  care 
not  to  recognise  them  as  good  works,  although  she 
is  evidently  referring  to  those  which  would  be  call- 
ed so  in  the  world.  She  contents  herself  with  say- 
ing, "  Works  done  before  the  grace  of  Christ  and 
the  inspiration  of  his  Spirit,  are  not  pleasant  to  God, 
for  as  much  as  they  spring  not  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ :  neither  do  they  make  men  meet  to  receive 
grace,  or  (as  the  school  authors  say)  deserve  '  grace 
of  congruity:'  yea,  rather,  for  that  they  are  not 
done  as  God  hath  willed  and  commanded  them  to 
be  done,  we  doubt  not  but  they  have  the  nature  of 
sin." 

There  are  few  Articles  of  the  Church  which  are 
more  staggering  to  the  heart  of  "the  natural  man" 
than  this,  and  yet  few  that  more  immediately 
approve  themselves  to  the  heart  of  the  "  spiritual 
man." 

The  Article  simply  asserts  that  no  works  per- 
formed before  Justification,  i.  e.  as  we  demonstrated 
in  the  last  Discourse,  before  we  have  been  led  to 


82 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


close  with  the  offers  of  reconciliation  to  God 
through  Christ,  and  have  been  thus  "  accounted 
righteous"  through  his  merits,  are  "  pleasant  to 
God."  Consider  only  for  a  moment  the  declara- 
tions of  the  Articles  which  have  preceded  this,  and 
you  will  see  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  come  to 
any  other  conclusion.  The  9th  Article  has  declared 
that  we  are  "  very  far  gone  from  original  righteous- 
ness," that  "  the  flesh  is  always  lusting  against  the 
Spirit,"  and  "  deserving  God's  wrath  and  damna- 
tion." The  10th  Article  has  shown  that  from  this 
condition  man  "  cannot  turn  and  prepare  himself," 
i.  e.  without  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  therefore  has 
no  power  to  do  good  works  "  pleasant  and  accepta- 
ble to  God."  It  is,  then,  the  following  consequence 
of  these  great,  and  solemn,  and  humiliating  truths, 
that  every  "  work  done  before  the  grace  of  Christ," 
must  be  unpleasant  to  God,  and  even  as  the  close 
of  the  Article  strongly,  but  not  more  strongly  than 
scripturally,  asserts,  must  "  have  the  nature  of  sin." 
We  say,  not  more  strongly  than  scripturaliy ;  for 
the  Apostle  to  the  Romans  has  asserted  the  same 
thing,  almost  in  the  same  words,  when  he  says, 
"  whatsoever  is  not  of  faith  is  sin."* 

This  is  the  portion  of  the  Article  which  is  a 

*  Rom.  xiv.  23. 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


83 


stumbling-block  to  many  readers;  the  feelings  of 
their  minds  with  respect  to  it  are  of  this  nature. 
Can  it  be  possible  that  all  the  amiable,  honest,  just, 
and  honourable  actions  of  a  man's  life,  performed 
before  he  has  received  M  the  grace  of  Christ,"  can 
possess  the  nature  of  sin,  in  the  sight  of  our  merciful 
Father?  Is  he  so  severe  a  judge  that  he  will  not 
look  with  an  eye  of  satisfaction  upon  those  many 
virtuous  deeds  of  virtuous  men,  which  gladden  the 
countenance  and  cheer  the  souls  of  all  around  them, 
and  which  deserve  and  receive  "  the  blessing  of  him 
that  was  ready  to  perish,"  and  cause  "  the  widow's 
heart  to  sing  for  joy 

This  is  perhaps  stating  the  ©bjection  as  fairly 
and  as  strongly  as  it  can  be  stated,  and  yet  wre 
doubt  not  that  to  the  reflecting  people  among  you, 
a  very  little  consideration  will  induce  you  to  agree 
to  the  justice  of  the  verdict  which  our  Church 
pronounces  even  upon  such  acts  as  these.  Indeed 
the  very  reason  which  our  Church  gives  for  her 
decision,  will  go  far  towards  removing  the  objec- 
tion from  every  unprejudiced  mind.  She  says  that 
these  works  "  have  the  nature  of  sin,"  simply,  be- 
cause "  they  are  not  done  as  God  hath  willed  and 
commanded  them  to  be  done."     God  has  com- 


»  Job  xxix.  13. 


84 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


manded,  not  that  they  should  be  left  undone,  but 
that  they  should  be  done  from  love  to  his  name, 
that  they  should  be  the  fruits  of  a  true  and  living 
faith;  if  then,  they  are  performed, — but  performed 
from  any  other  motive,  for  it  is  unnecessary  to 
refer  to  their  inherent  imperfection  and  corruption, 
— but  if  they  are  performed  from  any  other  motive 
than  God  has  commanded,  it  is  clear  that  as  re- 
gards God  and  the  actor  of  those  works,  they 
"  have  the  nature  of  sin,"  they  are  the  breach  of 
a  command,  instead  of  the  fulfilment  of  one,  and 
however  estimable  in  the  sight  of  our  fellow-men, 
cannot  be  pleasant  to  him  whose  will  they  are 
opposing.  For  instance,  if  we  are  charitable  to 
obtain  the  praise  of  men  ;  if  we  are  benevolent  to 
gratify  the  feelings  of  a  heart  bleeding  at  the  sight 
of  others'  woes;  if  we  are  liberal,  because  it  fos- 
ters our  vanity;  if  we  are  just,  because  it  satisfies 
our  high-mindedness ;  if  we  are  kind  and  conde- 
scending, because  it  ministers  to  our  pride ;  can 
we  affect  surprise  that,  however  pleasing  to  God 
may  be  the  actions  taken  abstractedly,  and  without 
reference  to  the  actor,  they  have  "  the  nature  of 
sin"  when  taken  with  reference  to  the  actor,  and 
are  really  sinful  as  regards  his  motives,  principles, 
and  objects. 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


85 


There  is  an  incident  in  ancient  history,  which 
may,  perhaps,  tend  to  illustrate  this.  You  will 
recollect  in  Roman  story,  that  at  a  time  when  the 
discipline  of  the  army  peculiarly  required  the  most 
entire  and  positive  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the 
commander,  that  commander  forbade  that  any  in- 
dividual should  leave  the  ranks,  upon  any  pretence, 
under  pain  of  immediate  death.  The  order  was. 
as  you  will  remember,  violated  by  his  own  son, 
who,  indignant  at  the  insults,  and  menaces,  and 
scorn,  of  some  champion  of  the  enemy,  spurred 
forth  to  meet  him,  and  having  slain  him  in  single 
combat,  brought  back  the  trophies  to  his  father's 
feet. 

We  need  not  remind  you,  that  the  conqueror 
was  ordered  to  immediate  execution.  The  act  of 
heroism,  which,  if  performed  in  obedience  to  com- 
mand, would  have  deserved  and  received  the 
crown,  performed  as  it  was,  in  direct  opposition 
to  command,  conducted  its  perpetrator,  and  with 
perfect  justice,  to  the  scaffold.  We  are  not  de- 
fending the  feeling,  or  the  morality  of  the  act,  but 
its  justice,  which  is  the  only  part  of  the  incident 
which  forms  any  parallel  to  the  subject  before  us. 

It  was  just  that  the  commander  should  order  the 
delinquent  to  execution ;  it  is  just  that  God  should 
8 


86 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


view  with  displeasure,  and  treat  as  sins,  those  acts 
which,  however  grateful  to  the  natural  feeling,  are 
destitute  of  all  that  can  give  them  value  in  his 
eyes,  because  they  are  done  with  no  single  refer- 
ence to  himself,  because  they  are  performed  nei- 
ther in  obedience  to  his  will,  nor  in  love  and  honour 
to  his  name,  nor  with  any  desire  for  his  glory. 

The  third  error  into  which  men  have  fallen  re- 
specting good  works,  is,  that  it  is  possible  to  pre- 
sent so  large  an  abundance  of  them  to  God  in  the 
life  of  a  truly  converted  man  of  God,  that  he  may 
render  far  more  of  them,  out  of  his  great  zeal  and 
love  to  God,  than  God  ever  required  at  his  hands. 
This,  I  need  scarcely  tell  you,  is  the  Romish  doc- 
trine of  "  wTorks  of  supererogation."  Upon  this  it 
is  unnecessary  to  dwell ;  if  there  be  a  Protestant 
inclined  to  maintain  so  unscriptural  a  dogma,  it  is 
enough  for  him  to  consider  what  God  really  re- 
quires, before  he  presumes  to  pronounce  that  more 
can  be  rendered.  Almost  a  single  extract  from  the 
Divine  Word  will  set  this  at  rest  for  ever.  Our 
Lord  himself  has  said,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind,"  and,  "  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself."*    It  is  perfectly  evident  that  before  works 

*  Matt.  xxii.  37  and  39. 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


87 


of  supererogation  can  commence,  works  positively 
enjoined,  and  commanded,  must  have  been  com- 
pleted. We  do  not  ask,  where  then  is  the  man 
who  has  thus  perfectly  loved  both  God  and  his 
neighbour ;  we  might  allow  for  a  moment,  that 
such  an  one  could  be  found,  but  granting  this, 
what  possibility  could  exist  of  giving  more  love 
than  could  be  given  when  he  gave  the  whole 
heart ;  or  doing  more  duties  than  could  be  done, 
when  he  is  already  engaged  to  the  utmost  efforts 
of  his  whole  soul,  and  mind,  and  strength,  in  per- 
forming what  is  absolutely  required  of  him?  The 
inquiry  involves  a  contradiction  even  in  terms;  the 
point  is  too  obvious  to  reason  upon ;  and  our  Ar- 
ticle therefore  wisely  shuts  it  up  with  the  single 
observation,  "Christ  saith  plainly,  When  ye  have 
done  all  that  are  commanded  to  you,  say,  We  are 
unprofitable  servants." 

But  there  is  yet  a  fourth  error  with  respect  to 
this  same  subject,  the  very  contrary  to  these  which 
wre  have  already  considered,  but  still  not  less  an 
error  than  those  which  have  preceded  it.  This  is 
the  error  of  the  Antinomians,  who  contend  that  in 
the  persons  of  the  justified,  neither  evil  works  nor 
good  works  are  of  any  account :  that  sin  in  them 
will  not  offend  God,  and  that  works  of  piety,  or 


88 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


holiness,  or  charity,  are  not  necessary  to  please 
him  :  in  fact,  that  every  thing  beyond  the  one  great 
doctrine  and  the  one  great  privilege  of  the  justified, 
the  "  being  in  Christ"  is  utterly  valueless  and  im- 
material. It  is  for  the  purpose  of  counteracting 
this  most  licentious  doctrine,  as  well  as  for  esta- 
blishing that  truth  which  we  considered  in  the  last 
Discourse, — that  we  are  not  "  accounted  righteous" 
"  for  our  own  w^orks  or  deservings," — that  the 
twelfth  Article  w7as  appointed.  These  are  the 
words  of  the  Article  : 

"  XII.  Of  good  Works. 
"Albeit  that  good  works,  which  are  the  fruits  of 
faith,  and  follow  after  justification,  cannot  put 
away  our  sins  and  endure  the  severity  of  God's 
judgment,  yet  are  they  pleasing  and  acceptable 
to  God  in  Christ,  and  do  spring  out  necessarily  of 
a  true  and  lively  faith;  insomuch  that  by  them  a 
lively  faith  may  be  as  evidently  known,  as  a  tree 
discerned  by  the  fruit." 

Upon  the  former  part  of  this  Article,  which 
refers  to  the  first  error  that  we  have  enumerated, 
and  plainly  declares  that  "  good  works  cannot  put 
away  our  sins,"  we  need  not  dwell,  having  shown 
this  most  distinctly  from  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
authority  of  our  Church,   while   explaining  the 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


89 


doctrine  of  justification.  Neither  need  we  cor- 
roborate it  by  the  Homilies  ;  it  is  sufficient  to  refer 
you  to  the  Homily,*  in  three  parts,  dedicated  to 
this  express  subject.  We  will,  therefore,  on  this 
portion  of  the  Article,  only  add  a  single  testimony, 
too  valuable  to  be  omitted,  from  the  admirable 
sermon  of  Hooker,  from  which  we  quoted  in  the 
last  discourse,  and  which  is  as  clear  upon  the  ne- 
cessity of  good  works  in  their  place,  and  the  utter 
fruitlessness  of  them  when  taken  out  of  their  place, 
as  the  last  passage  which  we  cited  from  him,  was 
upon  the  nature  of  the  sinner's  justification.  These 
are  his  words — "  The  best  things  we  do  have  some- 
what in  them  to  be  pardoned ;  how  then  can  we  do' 
any  thing  meritorious  or  worthy  to  be  rewarded  1 
Wherefore  we  acknowledge  a  dutiful  necessity  of 
doing  well ;  but  the  meritorious  dignity  of  doing 
well,  we  utterly  renounce.  We  see  how  far  we 
are  from  the  perfect  righteousness  of  the  law. 
The  little  fruit  we  have  in  holiness,  is,  God  know- 
eth,  corrupt  and  unsound  ;  we  have  no  confidence 
in  it;  we  challenge  nothing  in  the  world  for  it. 
We  dare  not  call  God  to  reckoning,  as  if  we  had 
him  in  our  debt-books.    Our  continual  suit  to  him 


See  Homily  on  "  Good  Works." 
8* 


90 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


is,  and  must  be,  to  bear  with  our  infirmities,  and 
pardon  our  offences."* 

The  Article  before  us  having  decided  this  point, 
continues  most  justly  and  scripturally  to  observe, 
though  "  good  works  cannot  put  away  our  sins," 
which  the  mere  legalist  believes  that  they  can ;  or 
"endure  the  severity  of  God's  judgment,"  which 
the  Council  of  Trent  expressly  decreed  that  they 
could ;  "  yet  are  they  pleasing,  and  acceptable  to 
God  in  Christ,  and  do  spring  out  necessarily  of  a 
true  and  lively  faith."f 

Nothing  can  be  more  scripturally  correct,  or 
more  scripturally  guarded,  than  these  expressions 
of  our  Church ;  they  give  that  weight  and  promi- 
nency to  good  works  which  the  Word  of  God 
gives,  but  nothing  further.  They  do  not  even 
distinctly  assert  that  no  man  can  enter  heaven 
without  good  works,  because,  though  unquestion- 
ably such  is  the  rule,  yet  the  compilers  of  our 
Articles,  well  knew  that  there  might  be,  and  that 
indeed  there  must  be,  many  exceptions.  For,  as 
the  first  part  of  the  Homily  on  good  works,  quaint- 
ly, but  truly  says,  "  I  can  show  a  man  that  by 
faith,  without  works,  lived  and  came  to  heaven  ; 
but  without  faith  never  man  had  life.    The  thief 


*  Disc.  Just.,  sec.  7. 


t  See  Burnet  on  Art.  12. 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIU.  XIV. 


91 


that  was  hanged  when  Christ  suffered,  did  believe 
only;  and  the  most  merciful  God  justified  and 
saved  him.  And  because  no  man  shall  say  again 
that  he  lacked  time  to  do  good  works,  for  else  he 
would  have  done  them ;  truth  it  is,  and  I  will  not 
contend  therein :  but  this  I  will  truly  affirm,  that 
faith  only  saved  him."* 

As  long  as  we  believe  in  the  possibility  of  what 
is  called  "  a  death-bed  repentance,"  however  rare  ; 
as  long  as  we  would  not  exclude  from  heaven  even 
those  who  are  called  to  God  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
and  in  the  last  closing  scene  of  life  are  led  by  the 
grace  of  God  to  lay  hold  of  that  salvation  which 
Christ  has  purchased  for  them  ;  so  long  we  must 
also  believe  that  it  is  possible  for  the  truly  penitent 
and  converted  sinner  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God,  with  heart  and  affections  fully  prepared  to 
bring  forth  a  harvest  of  good  fruits  to  the  glory  of 
God,  though  time  and  opportunity  have  been  on 
earth  denied  him. 

It  is,  however,  of  the  rule,  and  not  of  its  excep- 
tions, that  we  would  speak ;  and  all  Scripture  de- 
monstrates that  the  rule  is,  "  He  that  abideth  in  me, 
and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."f 
We  say  that  all  Scripture  is  full  of  this  important 

*  P.  40.  8vo.  ed.  Oxford,  1802.  t  John  xv.  5. 


92 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


doctrine;  asserting  at  one  time,  that  "In  Christ 
Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth  any  thing,  nor 
uncircumcision,  but  faith  which  worketh  by  love."* 
At  another,  showing  that  good  works  are  u  pleas- 
ing and  acceptable  unto  God,"  wrhen  it  declares, 
"  God  is  not  unrighteous  to  forget  your  work  and 
labour  of  love."f  And  again,  "  I  heard  a  voice 
from  heaven  saying  unto  me,  Write,  Blessed  are 
the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth ; 
yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their 
labours,  and  their  works  do  follow  them."J 

But,  brethren,  it  is  not  enough  that  we  acknow- 
ledge this,  as  a  matter  of  orthodox  and  spiritual 
truth  ;  the  question  is,  do  we  steadily,  perseveringly 
and  consistently  act  upon  it  as  the  rule  of  our  lives  ? 
Are  we  thus  engaged  in  "bringing  forth  much 
fruit"  to  the  glory  of  God?  What  a  libel  upon 
Christianity  are  the  unfruitful  lives  of  its  professors  ! 
The  worldly  followers  of  a  religion,  one  of  whose 
first  injunctions  is  that  the  world  should  be  crucified 
to  us,  and  we  unto  the  world.§  The  self-pleasing 
followers  of  a  Saviour,  who  distinctly  declared, 
"  Whosoever  doth  not  bear  his  cross  and  come  after 
me,  cannot  be  my  disciple."||  The  unkind  and  un- 
amiable,  and  unlovely  followers  of  Him  whose 

*  Gal.  v.  6.  t  Heb.  vi.  10.  J  Rev.  xiv.  13. 

§  See  Gal.  vi.  14.       ||  Luke  xiv.  27. 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


93 


example  and  whose  Word  have  said,  "  This  is  my 
commandment  that  ye  love  one  another  as  I  loved 
you."* 

Let  us  then,  in  conclusion,  shortly  apply  the  great 
lesson  before  us.  And  here  it  is  obvious,  that  I  can 
address  myself  only  to  the  converted  and  renewed 
people  of  God,  and  for  this  simple  reason,  that,  as 
we  have  seen  both  from  the  12th  and  13th  Article, 
none  other  but  they  who  are  really  justified  before 
God,  can  perform  what  holy  Scripture  and  our 
Church  denominate  "good  works."  To  you, 
then,  we  would  not  be  content  to  say,  you  must  be 
just,  and  honourable,  and  charitable,  and  amiable, 
and  condescending,  and  humble,  and  meek,  and 
affectionate,  and  true,  but  we  would  say  with  the 
Apostle,  "  Whatsoever  things,  are  true,  whatsoever 
things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatso- 
ever things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of 
good  report ;  if  there  be  any  virtue,  if  there  be  any 
praise,  think  on"  and  practise  "  these  things."f  Yea, 
we  would  go  farther  still,  and  say  with  our  divine 
Master,  "  What  do  ye  more  than  others  ?"{  imply- 
ing in  the  strongest  possible  manner  that  the  true 
follower  of  God  must  not  only  believe  more,  but  "  do 
more  than  others."  So  far  from  the  free  salvation, 

*  John  xv.  12.         f  Phil.  iv.  8.  \  Matt.  v.  47. 


94 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


of  which  you  are  the  blessed  subjects,  exonerating 
you  in  any,  the  smallest  degree,  from  those  moral 
duties  which  it  is  the  boast  of  the  world,  though 
God  knows  it  is  an  empty  boast,  that  they  perform; 
more,  infinitely  more,  is  expected  from  the  man  of 
God,  than  is  even  aimed  at  by  the  man  of  the  world. 
Is  the  worldly  man,  for  instance,  punctual  in  all  his 
engagements,  upright  and  honourable  in  everything 
which  he  undertakes ;  you  must  be  more  scrupu- 
lously so,  you  must  excel  him  in  the  measure  of 
your  good  works,  as  much  as  you  undoubtedly  al- 
ready excel  him  in  the  motives  of  them.  He  per- 
forms all  these  duties,  because  they  are  expected  of 
him  by  his  fellow-men,  because  they  are  part  and 
parcel  of  that  code  of  honour  to  which  every  high- 
minded  man  of  the  world  considers  himself  amena- 
ble, and  without  a  scrupulous  attention  to  which  he 
could  not  for  a  single  day  maintain  his  footing  in  so- 
ciety. You  are  expected  to  perform  them,  and  if  you 
are  a  sincere  follower  of  God,  you  will  perform  them, 
as  the  fruits  of  a  true  and  lively  faith.  Knowing 
how  much  God  has  done  for  you,  utterly  undeserv- 
ing, you  will  endeavour  to  act  in  such  a  manner 
towards  your  fellow-men,  though  equally  undeserv- 
ing, not,  as  shall  best  serve  your  interest  in  a  selfish 
world,  but  as  shall  be  most  acceptable  to  a  God  of 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


95 


purity,  a  God  of  justice,  a  God  of  love.  Gratitude 
alone  would  insure  this  at  your  hands,  for  know- 
ing what  you  have  received,  you  will  be  always 
asking,  "  What  shall  I  render  ?"*  but  more  than 
gratitude  demands  it.  Your  good  works  must  be 
the  evidence  of  your  gratitude,  but  they  must  also 
be  the  fruits  of  "  a  true  and  lively  faith."  "  With- 
out holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord  ;"f  and 
has  not  the  Word  of  God  itself  declared  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  became  the  author  of  eternal 
salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey  him. "J  We  do 
not  scruple  therefore  to  tell  you  that  "  faith  with- 
out works  is  dead,  being  alone,"§  that  you  may 
boast  of  the  highest  spiritual  attainments,  of  the 
most  exalted  faith,  of  the  deepest  experience,  and 
yet,  wanting  those  Christian  virtues,  which  endear 
man  to  his  fellows,  and  which  liken  him  to  the 
meek,  and  lowly,  and  forgiving,  and  compassionate 
Redeemer,  you  are  in  reality  destitute  of  that  sav- 
ing faith  from  which  they  necessarily  spring,  and 
you  have  therefore  neither  part  nor  lot  in  the  salva- 
tion which  it  secures. 

My  Christian  brethren,  we  own  we  do  at  all 
times  feel  it  necessary  to  speak  strongly  upon  these 

*  Psalm  cxvi.  12.  t  Heb.  xii.  14. 

t  Heb.  v.  9.  §  James  ii.  17. 


96 


DISCOURSE  IV. 


practical  subjects,  because  we  firmly  believe  that 
one  unholy  and  inconsistent,  or  even  worldly  and 
fruitless  professor  of  religion,  does  more  injury  to 
the  true  cause  of  the  Redeemer,  than  many  open 
reprobates.  And  yet,  alas !  are  there  none  such 
among  us?  Are  there  none  who,  holding  all  the 
great  and  saving  truths  of  the  Gospel  with  the 
most  perfect  accuracy,  may  yet  derive  many  a 
lesson  of  amiability,  and  disinterestedness,  and  hu- 
mility, and  brotherly  kindness,  and  affectionate 
forbearance,  from  some  who  are  not  yet  known 
to  be  partakers  of  the  "grace  of  Christ?"  Are 
there  none  who  would  find  it  difficult,  in  looking 
back  upon  the  week  which  has  just  closed  upon 
us,  to  distinguish  a  single  "  good  work" — a  single 
fruit  of  faith,  laid  as  a  thank-offering  upon  the 
altar  of  their  God  ?  Surely  these  things  ought 
not  so  to  be ;  for  is  it  not  thus,  that  we  cause  the 
way  of  truth  to  be  evil  spoken  of,  "  the  name  of 
God  to  be  blasphemed,"*  the  Saviour  to  be  "wound- 
ed in  the  house  of  his  frisnds,"f  and  the  preaching 
of  the  everlasting  Gospel,  with  its  one  great  truth, 
"justification  by  faith  only"  to  be  treated  by  the 
ignorant,  or  the  malevolent,  as  an  unholy  and  licen- 
tious fable  ? 

*  Rom  ii.  24.  Titus  ii.  5.  t  Zech.  xiii.  6. 


ARTICLES  XII.  XIII.  XIV. 


97 


If,  therefore,  you  love  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus  ;"#  if  you  love  the  Saviour  who  proclaimed 
it;  if  you  love  your  own  souls,  and  your  own 
eternity,  be  constant  in  well-doing ;  whether  it  be 
to  spiritual  duties,  or  to  temporal  duties,  that  the 
occasion  calls  you,  be  first  and  foremost  in  them 
all,  "  doing  whatsoever  your  hand  findeth  to  do 
with  your  might,"f  "  letting  your  light  so  shine  be- 
fore men,  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and 
glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven"J — "  being 
filled  with  the  fruits  of  righteousness  which  are 
by  Jesus  Christ,  unto  the  glory  and  praise  of 
God."§ 

*  Eph.  iv.  21 .  t  Eccles.  ix.  10. 

,    X  Malt.  v.  16.  §  Phil.  i.  11. 


9 


98 


DISCOURSE  V. 


■,'M 

DISCOURSE  V. 

ACTS  IV.  part  of  verse  12. 

"  There  is  none  other  name  under  Heaven  given  among  men, 
whereby  we  must  be  saved." 

Having  on  the  last  occasion  of  addressing  you, 
considered  the  three  Articles,  viz.  12th,  13th,  and 
14th,  which  treat  of  "  Good  Works,''  it  is  my  in- 
tention to-day,  to  bring  before  you  the  three  Ar- 
ticles, viz.,  15th,  16th,  and  18th,  which  treat  upon 
the  important  subjects  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  of  Sin.  The  two  of  these,  which  will  form 
the  first  subjects  of  our  observations  this  morning, 
are  the  15th  and  the  18th. 

"  XV.    Of  Christ  alone  without  sin. 

"  Christ,  in  the  truth  of  our  nature,  was  made 
like  unto  us  in  all  things,  sin  only  excepted,  from 
which  He  was  clearly  void,  both  in  his  flesh  and 
in  his  spirit." 

That  this  commencement  of  the  Article  is 
founded  entirely  upon  the  declarations  of  God's 
Word,  will  be  immediately  apparent  from  these 


ARTJCLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


99 


well-known  passages  of  Scripture :  "  Forasmuch 
as  the  children  are  partakers  of  the  flesh  and 
blood,  he  also  himself  likewise  took  part  of  the 
same."  Therefore  was  our  Lord  certainly  made 
like  us  "  in  the  truth"  or  the  reality  "  of  our  na- 
ture."* That  he  was  void  of  sin,  "  both  in  his 
flesh  and  in  his  spirit,"  is  equally  apparent  from 
these  declarations, — "  In  all  points  tempted  like 
as  we  are,  not  without  sin."f  "  The  prince  of 
this  world,"  Satan,  "  cometh,  and  hath  nothing  in 
me. "J  "  He  did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in 
his  mouth  ;"§  and  many  other  passages  which  are 
familiar  to  us  all. 

It  is  impossible  to  read  these  valuable  documents 
of  our  Church  without  being  continually  struck 
with  that  providential  direction,  by  which  their 
compilers  were  led  to  controvert  ancient  heresies, 
by  asserting  the  true  and  scriptural  views  of  all 
these  important  subjects,  and  thus  to  correct  by 
anticipation,  those  errors  which  should  in  after 
ages  spring  up,  to  delude  and  deceive  the  people 
of  God.  We  have  in  this  first  sentence,  the  dis- 
tinct opinion  of  the  holy  men  of  our  Church,  not 
only  upon  one  of  the  errors  of  Socinus,  that  Christ 


*  Heb.  ii.  14. 
t  John  xiv.  30. 


t  Heb.  iv.  15. 
§  1  Pet.  ii.  22. 


100 


DISCOURSE  V. 


was  peccable,  but  also  upon  that  modern  revival 
of  the  heresy  of  Nestorius,  which,  by  asserting 
that  the  nature  of  our  blessed  Lord  was  a  "  fallen 
nature,"  and  his  flesh  "  sinful  flesh,"  applies  language 
to  the  flesh  of  Christ,  which  even  they  would  not 
apply  to  Christ  himself,  thus  making  two  persons 
in  Christ,  which  was  the  very  essence  of  Nestorian- 
ism,  opening  at  once  the  floodgates  to  those  low 
and  unworthy  views  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world, 
which  are  as  much  at  variance  with  the  .express 
declarations  of  his  eternal  Godhead,  as  they  are 
opposed  to  the  leading  doctrines  of  Christianity,  his 
"  perfect  sacrifice,"  and  perfect  manhood. 

For  as  the  Article  before  us  truly  adds,  "  He 
came  to  be  the  Lamb  without  spot,  who  by  sacri- 
fice of  himself  once  made,  should  take  away  the 
sins  of  the  world,  and  sin,  as  St.  John  saith,  was 
not  in  him."*'  If,  therefore,  our  Lord  had  had 
only  a  fallen  nature  to  offer,  instead  of  being  "  the 
Lamb  without  spot,"f  his  would  have  been  a 
blemished  sacrifice,  and  he  would  himself  have 
needed  thai  with  which  no  other  being  throughout 
the  universe  could  have  supplied  him,  a  perfect 
offering  to  satisfy  the  justice  of  God. 

"  But  all  we  the  rest,"  continues  the  Article, 

*  1  John  iii.  5.  t  1  Pet.  i.  19. 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


101 


"  although  baptized,  and  born  again  in  Christ,  yet 
offend  in  many  things,  and  if  we  say  we  have  no 
sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not 
in  us."* 

What  has  been  already  remarked  respecting  the 
former  clause  of  the  Article,  is  equally  true  with  re- 
gard to  this.  It  was  originally  levelled  against  the 
Pelagians,  who  maintained  that  "persons  after  bap- 
tism might  live  without  sin,"  and  in  this  they  were 
countenanced  by  some  of  the  Anabaptists  of  former 
days,  and  are,  we  fear,  even  now  followed  by  some 
sectaries  at  the  present  day. 

It  is  perhaps  vain  to  have  recourse  to  argument 
to  convince  those,  whom  the  daily  experience  of 
their  own  hearts  and  lives  leaves  unconvinced  ;  or 
else  we  might  remind  them  of  the  irresistible  testi- 
mony afforded  by  that  form  of  daily  prayer  which 
probably  none  among  them  habitually  neglect, 
"  Forgive  us  our  trespasses."  Whence  can  come 
the  daily  need  of  such  a  petition,  directed  by  our 
Lord  himself,  and  adopted  in  every  age  by  the 
holiest  people  of  God,  if  there  can  be  a  state  in 
which  the  believer  while  on  earth  lives  free  from  daily 
sin  ?  Surely,  the  more  devoted,  the  more  consistent, 
the  more  closely  we  are  enabled  by  God's  grace  to 

*  1  John  i.  8. 

9* 


102 


DISCOURSE  V. 


walk  in  the  commandments  and  laws  of  our  hea- 
venly Father,  the  more  sensible  will  the  heart  be- 
come, of  every,  the  slightest,  deviation  from  those 
laws.  While  the  indifferent  or  the  formalist  will  pass 
through  days,  and  weeks,  and  months,  without  ex- 
periencing, perhaps,  one  reproachful  feeling,  one 
distressful  consciousness  that  he  has  deviated  from 
the  strait  and  narrow  path,  the  renewed  child  of 
God  will  never  lay  his  head  in  peace  upon  his 
pillow,  until  he  has  sought  and  found  forgiveness 
through  the  blood  of  Christ,  for  the  numberless  sins 
of  omission  and  of  commission  which  if  unforgiven, 
each  day,  as  it  passes  away  for  ever,  carries  up 
with  it  to  the  throne  of  the  Eternal,  and  registers  in 
the  book  of  God's  remembrance. 

Having  thus  borne  its  true  and  scriptural  testi- 
mony to  the  sinlessness  of  Christ  and  the  sinfulness 
of  man,  the  Church  in  the  18th  Article  continues 
thus : 

"  XVIII.  Of  obtaining  eternal  salvation  only  by 
the  name  of  Christ. 
"  They  also  are  to  be  had  accursed  that  presume 
to  say,  that  every  man  shall  be  saved  by  the  law  or 
sect  which  he  professeth,  so  that  he  be  diligent  to 
frame  his  life  according  to  that  law,  and  the  light 
of  nature.    For  Holy  Scripture  doth  set  out  unto  us 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


103 


only  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  whereby  men  must 
be  saved. 

In  these  days  of  spurious  liberality,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  this  Article,  misunderstood  as  it  so  fre- 
quently is,  should  have  been  so  widely  reprobated. 
It  has  been  publicly  asserted,  and  upon  the  authority 
of  the  Article  before  us,  that  the  Church  of  England 
is  as  intolerant  as  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  con- 
demns all  to  perdition  who  do  not  hold  the  truths 
of  God's  Word  precisely  as  she  herself  holds  them. 
Nothing,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  can  be  more 
unjust,  or  more  untrue;  still  we  are  well  aware, that 
explain  it  as  we  may,  there  will  always  be  much  in 
the  great  truth  contained  in  the  Article,  which  will 
be  hostile  to  the  feelings  of  the  natural  heart.  So 
long  as  the  sentiment  of  the  well-known  distich  re- 
tains its  popularity  in  the  world, 

"  For  modes  of  faith  let  graceless  zealots  fight, 
His  can't  be  wrong,  whose  life  is  in  the  right," 

the  multitude  will  always  be  opposed  to  the  great 
Scriptural  doctrine,  of  the  Article  before  us.  This, 
however,  will  in  no  degree  influence  the  true  Chris- 
tian ;  his  inquiry  will  never  be,  what  is  the  opinion 
of  the  world,  upon  any  point  connected  with  his 
duty  to  God  :  it  will  be  simply  this,  "  What  saith  the 
Lord  ?    Is  the  voice  of  my  Church,  upon  this  sub- 


104  DISCOURSE  V. 

ject,  in  accordance  with  the  voice  of  my  God  ?  If 
it  be,  let  those  reject  the  voice  who  have  already 
rejected  the  speaker,  but  let  the  language  of  my 
heart  always  be,  4  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant 
heareth.'"*  Thus,  then,  saith  the  Lord,  "This  is 
the.  stone  which  was  set  at  nought  of  you  builders, 
which  is  become  the  head  of  the  corner.  Neither  is 
there  salvation  in  any  other ;  for  there  is  none  other 
name  under  heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we 
must  be  saved."f  And  again,  "  He  that  hath  the 
Son  hath  life,  and  he  that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God 
hath  not  life."J  "  He  that  believeth  not,  is  con- 
demned already,  because  he  hath  not  believed  in  the 
name  of  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God."§ 

This,  then,  at  once  strikes  at  the  root  of  all  that 
false,  and  hollow  affectation  of  liberality,  which 
would  encourage  the  natural  heart  of  man  in  its 
pride,  and  obstinacy,  by  teaching  that  whatever  be 
"  the  law"  which  we  follow,  or  "  the  sect"  to  which 
we  belong,  if  we  but  "  be  diligent  to  frame  our  lives 
according  to  that  law,"  all  will  be  well.  This  as- 
sures us  upon  the  authority  of  God  himself,  that  so 
far  from  man  not  being  accountable  for  his  religious 
creed,  and  consequently  not  punishable  for  its  de- 

*  1  Sam.  iii.  9.  t  Acts  iv.  11,  12. 

1  1  John  v.  12.  §  John  iii.  18. 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


105 


fects,  so  far  from  that  man's  faith  being  necessarily 
right,  whose  life  is  not  pronounced  to  be  wrong,  by 
the  world  around  him,  that  every  man  to  whom  the 
Gospel  has  ever  been  proposed,  or  who,  from  pro- 
vidential circumstances,  might,  had  he  so  pleased, 
have  become  acquainted  with  it,  shall  most  assured- 
ly, if  he  have  not  found  pardon,  and  peace  with 
God,  through  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  through  that 
alone,  be  in  the  end  a  cast-away.  We  well  know 
how  unpalatable  such  a  truth  as  this  must  be,  to 
every  individual  who  is  endeavouring  to  build  himself 
up  in  the  false  and  futile  expectation,  that  what  he 
considers  a  good  life,  or  sincerity  in  the  creed 
which  he  professes,  although  that  creed  exclude  all 
the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  even  to  the 
Divinity  or  atonement  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  shall  at 
the  last  great  day  be  found  sufficient.  But  we  dare 
not  conceal,  we  dare  not  modify  even  the  terms  in 
which  God  himself,  in  the  person  of  the  only-be- 
gotten Son,  has  pronounced  this  affecting,  this  vital 
truth.  He  has  said  it,  and  one  jot,  or  one  tittle  of 
His  Word,  shall  by  no  means  pass  away  till  all  be 
fulfilled  ;  "  He  that  believeth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be 
saved;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."* 
This  is  the  sentence  of  Him  who  was  love  itself, 

*  Mark  xvi.  16. 


106 


DISCOURSE  V. 


and  shall  man  affect  to  be  more  charitable,  than  his 
Maker  ?  Shall  man,  for  the  sake  of  not  inflicting 
a  moment's  pain,  or  of  not  giving  lasting  offence 
to  his  fellow-sinners,  presume  to  alter  the  terms  of 
such  a  message,  and  say,  that  any  thing  short  of  a 
full  and  entire  recognition  of  the  great  truths  of 
the  Gospel,  a  full  and  complete  dependence  upon 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  upon  him  alone,  will 
be  sufficient  for  the  salvation  of  a  soul?  No, 
brethren,  we  dare  not  do  it;  better  to  plant  a  sting 
in  every  heart  before  us  at  this  moment,  which  has 
not  yet  made  its  peace  with  God  through  the  only 
Saviour;  better  to  be  convicted  by  a  world's  unani- 
mous sentence,  of  bigotry,  of  superstition,  of  un- 
charitableness,  of  illiberality,  and  an  utter  igno- 
rance of  all  that  man,  in  the  vain  pride  of  his  in- 
tellect, thinks  worthy  of  his  attainments ;  yes,  bet- 
ter far  to  be  treated,  as  the  Apostles  before  us 
were,  as  "  the  offscouring  of  all  things,"*  than 
by  concealing,  or  modifying  this  awful  truth,  to 
leave  you  undisturbed  in  your  error,  and  your  self- 
complacency,  until  the  last  great  day  shall  unde- 
ceive you.  We  repeat  then,  and  we  pray,  that 
while  repeating  it,  the  Spirit  of  God  may  so  stamp 
it  upon  your  souls,  that  the  ceaseless  flow  of  time 

*  1  Cor.  iv.  13. 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


107 


may  have  no  power  to  efface,  and  to  obliterate  it; 
that  they  M  are  to  be  had  accursed,"  who  presume 
to  tell  you  that  your  sincerity,  or  your  ignorance, 
or  your  wisdom,  or  your  imaginary  holiness  (for 
real  holiness  out  of  Christ  there  can  be  none),  will 
avail  to  save  you,  so  that  you  "  be  but  diligent  to 
frame  your  life,"  according  to  what  you  imagine 
to  be  God's  law,  and  the  light  of  nature;  Christ, 
and  Christ  alone,  "  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  Him."* 
In  Him,  you  are,  as  we  have  already  seen,  "justi- 
fied by  faith,"  and  at  "  peace  with  God  ;"f  out  of 
Him,  and  all  virtues,  all  obedience,  all  rectitude  of 
moral  conduct,  are,  as  regards  your  soul's  salvation, 
literally  nothing  worth  ;  you  are  exposed,  helpless, 
destitute,  and  forlorn,  to  the  avenging  tempest  of 
the  wrath  of  God,  "  a  fiery  deluge  and  without  an 
ark." 

Here  then  would  we,  as  Christian  ministers,  take 
our  stand.  All  other  points  are  comparatively  tri- 
fling, but  this,  this  indeed,  is  vital.  Upon  this,  we 
would  urge  you,  we  would  pray  for  you,  we  would 
intreat  you,  we  would  run  every  risk,  even  to  the 
offending  you,  and  wearying  you,  and  driving  you 
from  us,  rather  than  at  the  great  day  you  should 

*  John  xiv.  6.  t  Rom.  v.  1. 


108 


DISCOURSE  V. 


be  enabled  to  say,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  never 
clearly  proposed  to  me  as  the  only  Saviour  of  my 
soul :  I  heard  of  Him  as  the  world  hears  of  Him, 
but  never  as  my  only  hope  and  my  only  safety. 
Are  there  then,  any  of  you,  is  a  single  person 
among  you  destitute  of  this  hope,  this  safety,  this 
refuge  ?  Is  there  one  who  is  experimentally  igno- 
rant, that  "  there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved  ?" 
To  that  one  we  would  say,  this  day  the  Lord 
waiteth  to  be  gracious,  this  day  He  freely  offers  to 
you  pardon  and  peace.  He  "  stretches  forth  His 
hands"*  (it  is  God's  own  metaphor),  to  receive  you 
to  Himself,  only  cast  yourself  fully  and  unreservedly 
upon  Him,  commit  your  soul  to  Him  as  unto  a  gra- 
cious Creator,  and  His  blood  shall  cleanse,  His 
righteousness  justify,  and  His  promised  Spirit  re- 
new, and  sanctify  your  soul.  Yours  shall  be  on 
earth,  the  privileges  of  the  children  of  God,  and  in 
heaven,  an  abundant  entrance  into  their  Father's 
mansion. 

There  is  yet  one  other  subject,  but  purely  a 
speculative  one,  connected  with  this  Article,  upon 
which,  perhaps,  it  may  be  expected  that  we  should 
touch.    If  the  words  of  our  Church  be  literally 

*  Rom.  x.  21 ;  Isa.  v.  25,  &c. 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


109 


true,  that  it  is  an  accursed  thing  to  say,  that  any 
man  shall  be  saved  "  by  the  law  or  sect  which  he 
professeth,"  then  what  opinion  must  be  given  upon 
the  state  of  the  heathen  world !  There  are,  as  it 
is  supposed,  upwards  of  six  hundred  millions  of  im- 
mortal souls  at  the  present  moment,  living  upon 
the  earth  in  utter  ignorance  of  that  holy  name, 
"  whereby  men  must  be  saved."  Every  century, 
therefore,  more,  probably,  than  eighteen  hundred 
millions  of  persons,  are  passing  to  their  long  and 
last  account,  having  no  hope,  and  without  God  in 
the  world."*  What  opinion  are  we  to  give  re- 
specting their  final  state  T  It  might  be  sufficient  to 
repeat  our  Lord's  own  answer  when  subjected  to 
a  very  similar  inquiry,  "  Lord,  are  there  few  that 
shall  be  saved?"  And  Jesus  answered,  "strive  to 
enter  in  at  the  strait  gate."f  But  as  our  Church 
has  been  supposed  by  some  to  have  overstepped 
her  accustomed  prudence,  and  to  speak  plainly, 
where  God  has  intended  to  speak  obscurely,  a  few 
moments  will  not  be  misapplied,  in  the  considera- 
tion of  the  passage  in  question.  And  here,  although 
in  so  saying  we  shall  differ  from  many  with  whom 
we  usually  agree,  we  cannot  but  confess  that 
Bishop  Burnet's  interpretation  of  that  portion  of 

*  Ephes.  ii.  12.  t  Luke  xiii.  23,  24. 

10 


110 


DISCOURSE  V. 


the  Article  which  refers  to  those  to  whom  the 
Christian  religion  has  never  been  revealed,  appears 
to  us  a  very  sound  and  correct  one,  viz.,  that  there 
is  "  a  great  difference  to  be  observed  between  the 
words, 'saved  by  the  law,'  and  saved  Hn  the  law  :'* 
the  one  condemned,  but  not  the  other.  To  be 
saved  by  a  law  or  sect,  signifies  that  by  the  virtue 
of  that  law  or  sect  such  men  who  follow  it  may 
be  saved ;  whereas  to  be  saved  in  a  law  or  sect, 
imports  only  that  God  may  extend  his  compassions 
to  men  that  are  engaged  in  false  religions.  The 
former  only  is  condemned  by  this  Article,  which 
affirms  nothing  concerning  the  other."t  Of  this 
wre  are  quite  certain,  because  God  himself  has  pro- 
nounced it,  that  "  there  is  none  other  name,"  but 
the  name  of  Christ,  by  which  men  can  be  saved ; 
therefore  wre  must  be  most  careful,  that  while  we 
do  not  draw  a  single  inference  which  shall  increase 
the  severity  of  God,  beyond  what  Scripture  has 
distinctly  revealed  concerning  it,  so  neither  must 

*  We  are  aware  that  in  the  Latin  copy  of  the  Article  it  is  ex- 
pressed, "  in  lege  aut  secta  ;"  but  as  the  English  and  Latin  Arti- 
cles are  of  equal  authority,  it  is  clear  that  the  compilers  never 
intended  by  the  Latin  phrase  to  express  "in  the  law  or  sect;"  for 
had  they  done  so,  they  would  most  certainly  so  have  rendered  it 
in  the  English  copy. —  Author. 

t  Bishop  Burnet,  p.  240,  8vo.,  Oxford,  1814. 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


Ill 


we  increase  the  mercy  of  God,  so  that  it  shall  in- 
terfere with  his  justice  or  his  truth:  we  can  there- 
fore only  say,  that  all  who  shall  be  saved  must  be 
saved  by  Christ  ;  but  whether  his  atoning  blood 
may  not  be  efficacious,  for  the  remission  of  the  sins 
of  those,  who  have  never  had  the  opportunity  of 
acquiring  a  knowledge  of  his  sacrifice,  whether  his 
name  may  not  be  "  a  savour  of  life  unto  life,"*  to 
some  who,  having  never  heard  it,  can  never  have 
called  upon  that  blessed  name,  it  is  not  for  man  to 
determine,  although  it  is  nowhere  forbidden  man  to 
to  hope  and  to  believe  it.  Our  Church  has  wisely 
expressed  no  opinion  upon  this  most  difficult  point, 
and  we  would  imitate  her  prudence,  resting  our 
hopes  of  the  salvation  of  these  benighted  souls, 
upon  our  knowledge  of  the  character  of  that  God 
with  whom  we  have  to  do,  and  the  infinite  love  and 
"  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  ;"f  and  resting  our 
certainty,  that  they  shall  receive  justice  at  the 
hands  of  God,  upon  that  express  declaration  of 
his  own  unerring  word,  "  There  is  no  respect  of 
persons  with  God.  For  as  many  as  have  sinned 
without  law,  shall  also  perish  without  law :  and  as 
many  as  have  sinned  in  the  law,  shall  be  judged 
by  the  law ;  (for  not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are 

*  2  Cor.  ii.  16.  t  Ephes.  iii.  8. 


112 


DISCOURSE  V. 


just  before  God,  but  the  doers  of  the  law  shall  be 
justified.  For  when  the  Gentiles,  which  have  not 
the  law,  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the 
law,  these,  having  not  the  law,  are  a  law  unto 
themselves:  which  show  the  work  of  the  law  writ- 
ten in  their  hearts,  their  conscience  also  bearing 
witness,  and  their  thoughts  the  mean  while  accus- 
ing, or  else  excusing  one  another;)  in  the  day  when 
God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ 
according  to  my  Gospel."*  That  the  heathen, 
then,  can  be  saved,  may,  we  think,  be  believed 
without  impugning  a  single  word  of  the  written 
testimony  of  our  God — that  they  shall  be  saved, 
the  last  day  only  can  determine. 

There  yet  remains  the  third  of  those  Articles, 
which  we  proposed  to  consider  this  morning,  upon 
which  to  offer  a  few  brief  observations :  it  is  the 
16th  and  entitled, 

"  XVI.    Of  sin  after  Baptism. 

"  Not  every  deadly  sin,  willingly  committed 
after  baptism,  is  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
unpardonable.  Wherefore  the  grant  of  repentance 
is  not  to  be  denied  to  such  as  fall  into  sin  after 
baptism." 

Having,  on  a  former  occasion,  spoken  at  length, 

*  Rom.  ii.  11—16. 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


113 


upon  the  "  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,"*  it  will 
here  be  only  necessary  to  remark,  that  the  object 
of  this  portion  of  the  Article  is  to  show,  in  opposi- 
tion to  those  schismatics  who  were  called  Nova- 
tians,  that  repentance  may  be  sought,  and  found, 
even  by  those  who,  after  having  been  united  by 
baptism  to  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer,  and  re- 
newed in  the  spirit  of  their  mind,  have  fallen  into 
wilful  sin.    The  error  in  the  ancient  Church  upon 
this  point,  was,  that  no  sin  committed  after  baptism 
could  obtain  pardon ;  and  the  consequence  was,  as 
is  invariably  the  case,  that  error  in  theory,  led  to 
error  in  practice ;  that  many,  and  among  them  was 
the  Emperor  Constantine,  delayed  their  baptism 
until  the  hour  of  death,  probably  that  they  might  es- 
cape the  possibility  of  falling  away.    All  Scripture, 
however,  controverts  this  error  ;  vain  would  be  that 
petition  of  the  Lord's  prayer  to  which  we  have  be- 
fore alluded  if  forgiveness  were  withheld  from  per- 
sons sinning  after  baptism.    While  the  opinion  of 
the  Apostolical  Church  on  this  subject,  may  be  very 
conclusively  gathered,  from  this  declaration  of  St. 
Paul  to  the  Galatians,  "  If  any  one  is  overtaken 
in  a  fault,  ye  which  are  spiritual,  restore  such  a 
one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  considering  thyself, 

*  In  the  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Christ,  Part  2,  Lecture  IV. 
10* 


114 


# 

DISCOURSE  V. 


lest  thou  also  be  tempted."  Showing  at  once, 
that  throughout  the  whole  Church  of  Christ,  even 
they  who  "  are  spiritual"  and  therefore  certainly, 
all  may  be  tempted,  and  all  may  fall  into  sin,  and 
all  may  be  renewed  again  unto  repentance. 

The  Article  continues,  "  After  we  have  received 
the  Holy  Ghost,  we  may  depart  from  grace  given, 
and  fall  into  sin,  and  by  the  grace  of  God  we  may 
arise  again  and  amend  our  lives.  And  therefore 
they  are  to  be  condemned,  which  say,  they  can  no 
more  sin  as  long  as  they  live  here,  or  deny  the 
place  of  forgiveness  to  such  as  truly  repent." 

With  what  remarkable  prudence,  does  our 
Church  here  speak,  upon  one  of  those  weighty 
and  mysterious  subjects,  which  have  so  long  di- 
vided the  body  of  Christ.  She  does  not  say,  as 
doubtless  many  of  her  followers  would  have  de- 
sired her  to  say,  "  We  may  depart  from  grace 
given  and  fall  into  sin,  but,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
we  must  arise  again  and  amend  our  lives;"  she 
contents  herself  with  affirming,  "  we  may  arise 
again  and  amend  our  lives,"  thus  leaving  the  con- 
tested subject  of  "  final  perseverance"  untouched 
neither  contradicted,  nor  affirmed.  Of  all  the  high, 
and  mysterious  doctrines  of  salvation,  there  ap- 
pears to  be  none,  upon  which  the  Word  of  God 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII. 


115 


has  spoken  so  little  authoritatively  as  upon  this 
subject.  Well,  therefore,  would  it  be  for  us  all  to 
imitate  the  wisdom  of  holy  Scripture,  and  the 
modesty  of  our  Church,  upon  points  of  such  ex- 
treme, and  inscrutable  difficulty.  The  practical 
view  is  the  only  view,  which  is  essential  to  the 
well-being  of  our  souls,  and  therefore  the  only  one 
which  we  should  be  anxious  that  all  should  receive, 
as  the  undoubted  truth  of  God  ;  and  the  practical 
view  is  this,  that  the  grace  of  God  is  continually 
extended  over  us,  that  it  will  never  be  withdrawn 
by  God  from  any  one  of  His  believing  and  obey- 
ing people  ;  but,  that  "  we  may  depart  from  grace 
given,"  and  that  if  by  the  prevalence  of  powerful 
temptation,  we  are  led  to  deviate  from  the  strait 
and  narrow  path,  God's  grace  is  still  within  our 
reach,  and  will,  if  sought,  enable  us  to  "  arise 
again  and  amend  our  lives,"  and  regain  our  foot- 
ing on  the  heavenward  path.  More  than  this, 
brethren,  we  do  not  feel  it  necessary  to  say.  It  is 
unquestionably  true,  that  "  He  which  hath  begun  a 
good  work  in  you,  will  perform  it  until  the  day  of 
Jesus  Christ  ;"*  but  it  is  equally  true  that,  as 
Hooker  well  expresses  it,  "  To  our  own  safety, 
our  own  sedulity  is  required."    To  our  own  ulti- 


*  Phil.  i.6. 


116 


DISCOURSE  V. 


mate  perseverance  in  grace,  therefore,  our  own 
constant  endeavours,  after  holiness  must  be  most 
closely  allied ;  and  wretched  indeed  will  be  the  fate 
of  those,  who  are  driven  to  seek  for  comfort  on  a 
dying  bed,  as  he,  of  old,  who  asked  his  chaplain, 
"  Can  they  who  have  been  once  elect  fall  from 
grace  ?"  and  upon  being  answered  in  the  negative, 
then  took  courage,  from  the  conviction  that  he  had 
once  been  among  that  happy  number.  Building  up 
their  spiritual  house,  not  on  the  only  true  founda- 
tion, not  upon  a  present  dependence  upon  the  love, 
and  sacrifice,  and  righteousness  of  a  crucified  Re- 
deemer, but  upon  some  mysterious,  or  imaginary 
transaction,  between  God,  and  their  souls,  the 
sanctifying  effects  of  which  have  long  since  passed 
away  for  ever.  No,  my  beloved  brethren,  while 
you  remember  for  your  comfort  and  encourage- 
ment, that  "  the  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure, 
having  this  seal,  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are 
His;"*  never  forget  that  this  seal  of  your  Christian 
character  has  two  sides,  and  that  if  that  be  engraven 
on  the  one,  we  have  the  same  Divine  authority  for 
knowing  that  this  is  inscribed  upon  the  other,  "  Let 
every  one  that  nameth  the  name  of  Christ  depart 
from  iniquity." 

*  2  Tim.  ii.  19. 


ARTICLES  XV.  XVI.  XVIII.  117 

Let  me  then  urge  you.  brethren.  "  by  the  mercies 
of  God."*  to  fear  sin.  all  sin,  even  the  least  sin.  as  a 
"  deadly"  ev[]r  as  that  which  alone  can  cast  both 
soul  and  body  into  hell.  "  Watch  and  pray  lest  ye 
enter  into  temptation,''^  knowing  that  as  the  small- 
est aperture  is  sufficient  to  sink  the  largest  vessel, 
so  also  the  smallest  sin  allowed  in  the  soul,  will  make 
an  opening,  through  which  every  wave  of  corruption 
will  flow  in,  until,  unless  the  grace  of  God  be  mira- 
culously exerted  in  your  behalf,  all  will  be  lost- 
While  therefore  you  live  in  the  fullest  reliance  upon 
the  promises  of  God,  the  fullest  enjoyment  of  your 
privileges,  live  also  in  the  daily,  hourly  waiting  upon 
a  throne  of  grace,  for  strength  to  serve  God  accept- 
ably, with  reverence,  and  godly  fear  ;  knowing  thai 
He  who  is  a  sun  and  shield  to  His  people,  is,  to 
every  evil-doer,  whatever  his  profession  of  service, 
M  a  consuming  fire."§ 

*  Rom.  xii.  1.  *  Matt.  s.  25. 

I  Matt.  xxvi.  41.  §  Deut.  iv.  24,  and  Heb.  Xfi.  29 


118 


DISCOIRSE  VI. 


DISCOURSE  VI. 

2  PETER  L,  part  ver.  10. 

"  Give  diligence  to  make  your  calling  and  election  sure." 

We  arrive  this  morning  at  the  17th  Article  of 
our  Church;  an  Article  upon  which  the  compilers, 
appear  to  have  bestowed  more  minute  attention, 
and  to  have  exercised,  if  possible,  a  greater  degree 
of  thoughtfulness  and  care,  and  to  have  been  assist- 
ed with  wisdom  from  on  high,  even  in  a  more  signal 
manner,  than  in  any  other,  which  they  have  handed 
down  to  us.  Well  have  they  said,  that  "  the  godly 
consideration"  of  the  sublime  subjects  it  contains, 
"  is  full  of  sweet,  pleasant,  and  unspeakable  comfort;" 
but  wisely  have  they  added,  that  it  is  so  only,  "  to 
godly  persons,  and  such  as  feel  in  themselves  the 
working  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  mortifying  the  works 
of  the  fl  jsh,  and  their  (  arthly  members,  and  drawing 
up  their  minds  to  high,  and  heavenly  things."  May 
the  spirit  of  God  render  our  consideration  of  these 
high  mysteries, "  a  godly  consideration ;"  not  suffering 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


119 


us  to  intrude,  into  "  the  secret  things,  which  belong 
to  the  Lord  our  God,"  or  to  attempt  to  explain  what 
God  has  hidden,  or  to  presume  to  speak  dogmatically, 
or  confidently,  upon  subjects  which  shall  never  be 
made  clear  to  us  here  below;  but  may  He  bestow 
upon  us  the  wisdom,  to  take  a  simple,  and  scriptural, 
a  charitable,  and  practical  view  of  a  question,  upon 
which  it  is  in  vain  to  hope,  that  even  true  Chris- 
tians shall  perfectly  agree,  until  they  arrive  at  that 
blessed  place,  into  which  neither  misconception,  nor 
controversy  shall  enter,  but  where  all  shall  be  union, 
and  harmony  and  peace. 

1  shall,  as  on  former  occasions,  confine  myself 
simply  to  the  declarations  of  the  Article  before  us, 
which  are  of  themselves,  fully  sufficient  to  occupy 
our  attention,  without  entering  into  the  immeasura- 
ble fields  of  this  vast  subject  that  lie  beyond. 
"  XVII.    Of  Predestination  and  Election." 
"  Predestination  to  life  is  the  everlasting  purpose 
of  God,  whereby  (before  the  foundations  of  the 
world  were  laid)  he  hath  constantly  decreed  by*His 
counsel,  secret  to  us,  to  deliver  from  curse  and 
damnation  those  whom  he  hath  chosen  in  Christ 
out  of  mankind,  and  to  bring  them  by  Christ  to  ever- 
lasting salvation,  as  vessels  made  to  honour." 
It  is  impossible  for  any  person  of  common  atten- 


120 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


tion  to  read  the  Word  of  God,  without  discovering 
that  throughout  the  pages  both  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  the  Almighty  is  represented  as  taking  a 
more  immediate,  and  intimate  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  men,  than  merely  foreknowing,  and  superintending 
them.  God  is  spoken  of,  in  fact,  as  interfering  from 
time  to  time  in  the  appointment,  and  choice  of  human 
instruments,  as  well  as  in  ruling,  and  overruling  all. 
This  Divine  appointment  or  choice  occurs,  indeed,  so 
frequently  in  Holy  Writ,  that  it  cannot  be  over- 
looked and  it  may  tend  to  the  better  understanding  of 
the  declaration  of  our  Church,  if  we  shortly  examine 
the  different  senses  in  which  the  term  is  employed, 
that  we  may  discover  with  what  intention  our 
Church  has  applied  it  in  the  Article  before  us. 

First,  then,  we  find  the  term  choosing  adopted  in 
various  portions  of  the  Divine  Word,  with  reference 
to  certain  offices,  or  employments,  to  which  indivi- 
duals were  in  some  especial  manner,  chosen  or 
elected  of  God,  Such,  for  instance,  was  the  case  of 
Saul,  the  first  king  of  Israel,  of  whom  we  find  the 
prophet  Samuel  asserting  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
people,  "  See  ye  him  whom  the  Lord  hath  chosen.',# 
So  again  with  reference  to  the  twelve  Apostles, 


*  1  Sam.  x.  24. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


121 


"  Jesus  answered  them,  Have  not  I  chosen  you 
twelve?" 

Again,  we  find  choice,  or  election,  spoken  of 
with  reference  to  national  advantages,  and  national 
privileges,  of  which  many  examples  might  be  ad- 
duced. For  instance,  with  regard  to  the  children 
of  Israel,  we  read  in  Deut.  vii.  6,  "  The  Lord  thy 
God  hath  chosen  thee  to  be  a  special  people  unto 
himself ;"  and  again  in  Isaiah  lxv.  9,  speaking  of  the 
same  people,  we  find  the  Almighty  saying,  "  Mine 
elect  shall  inherit  it;"  and  again,  verse  22,  M  Mine 
elect  shall  long  enjoy  the  work  of  their  hands." 
While  St.  Peter  adopts  the  same  method  of  speak- 
ing of  the  Christian  Church,  as  a  body,  the  visible 
Church  of  Christ,  as  having  been  elected  into  the 
same  place  of  spiritual  privileges,  and  spiritual  ad- 
vantages, from  which  the  Jews  had  by  transgression 
fallen,  when  he  says,  "ye  are  a  chosen  generation, 
a  royal  priesthood,  a  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people." 

Thus  far,  probably,  no  one  will  demur  to  the  ex- 
planation, which  has  been  offered  ;  but  there  is  still 
a  third  sense,  in  which  the  same  phrases  of  electing 
or  choosing  appear  to  be  employed  in  Holy  Writ  ; 
and  this  is  election,  not  of  nations,  but  of  persons, 
and  not  merely  to  the  external  means  of  salvation, 
or  to  Church  privileges,  but  to  everlasting  life. 
11 


122  DISCOURSE  VI. 

The  great  difficulty  is,  among  the  number  of 
passages  which  immediately  present  themselves  to 
the  mind  of  every  attentive  reader  of  Holy  Writ,  to 
select  such  only  as  offer  the  least  temptation  to  those 
endless  discussions,  and  verbal  differences,  which 
have  always  perplexed  this  mysterious  subject. 
For  this  purpose,  we  are  disposed  to  omit  all  refer- 
ence, to  the  many  testimonies  borne  throughout  the 
Epistles,  to  the  doctrine  upon  which  we  are  com- 
menting, and  by  which  it  is  usual  to  establish  its 
truth;  we  will  not  even  detain  you,  by  considering 
that  unanswerable  passage,  "  We  are  bound  to  give 
thanks  always  to  God  for  you,  brethren,  beloved  of 
the  Lord,  because  God  hath  from  the  beginning 
chosen  you  to  salvation,  through  sanctification  of 
the  Spirit  and  belief  of  the  truth,  whereunto  he 
called  you  by  our  Gospel  to  the  obtaining  of  the 
glory  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;"*  but  we  will  go  at 
once  to  the  Gospel  itself,  and  to  the  words  of  Him 
who  spake  as  never  man  before,  or  since,  has 
spoken;  leaving  it  to  yourselves  to  search  for  the 
corroboration,  or  refutation  of  these  high  doctrines, 
in  those  inspired  writings  of  the  Apostles,  which 
have  ever  been  considered  by  the  Church,  as  the 
best  commentary  upon  the  words  of  their  Master. 
*  2  Thesa.  ii.  13,  14. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


123 


We  shall  first,  then,  refer  to  our  Lord's  declara- 
tion respecting  his  Apostles. 

We  have  already  quoted  a  passage,  in  which  he 
says,  "  Have  1  not  chosen  you  twelve?"  where  the 
word  is  evidently  used  in  reference  to  the  disciple- 
ship  ;  is  it  not,  then,  a  little  remarkable  that  our 
Lord  uses  again  the  same  word,  and  infers  that  He 
has  not  chosen  the  twelve,  when  he  says  expressly, 
"  I  speak  not  of  you  all ;  I  know  whom  I  have 
chosen."  It  is  not  easy  to  reconcile  these  two  de- 
clarations, without  allowing  that,  in  the  former,  our 
Lord  spoke  only  of  an  election  to  the  apostleship, 
while,  in  the  latter,  he  spoke  of  an  election  to  eternal 
life;  in  the  first  of  which  Judas  was  included, 
although  not  in  the  second. 

Add  only  to  this,  the  other  clear  and  explicit  state- 
ments of  our  Divine  Master  himself,  as  recorded  by 
St.  John, "  All  that  the  Father  giveth  me,  shall  come 
to  me."  "  And  this  is  the  Father's  will  which  hath 
sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he  hath  given  me  1  should 
lose  nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up  again  at  the  last 
day."  "  I  have  manifested  thy  name  unto  the  men 
which  thou  gavest  me  out  of  the  world :  thine  they 
were,  and  thou  gavest  them  me,  and  they  have  kept 
thy  Word."  "  I  pray  for  them,  I  pray  not  for  the 
world,  but  for  them  which  thou  hast  given  me,  for 


124 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


they  are  thine,"  "  And  I  give  unto  them  eternal 
life;  and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any 
man  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand.  My  Father  who 
gave  them  me  is  greater  than  all ;  and  no  man  is 
able  to  pluck  them  out  of  my  Father's  hand." 

The  distinction  in  these  passages,  between  those 
who  are  given  to  Christ,  and  those  who  are  not 
given,  is  so  obvious,  that  we  do  not  fear  to  rest  the 
whole  question,  of  the  doctrine  which  we  are  con- 
sidering, upon  these  declarations  of  our  Lord,  and  to 
say  with  a  celebrated  Reformer,*  that  "  if  in  the 
whole  Scripture  there  were  no  more  places  to  prove 
it,  .  .  .  this  alone  were  sufficient." 

If,  however,  the  nature  of  this  discourse  would  ad- 
mit of  it,  we  should  be  willing  to  refer  this  import- 
ant subject  of  "predestination  unto  life,"  and  our 
"  election  in  Christ,"  to  your  own  experience,  and 
to  your  own  hearts,  and  permit  them  to  determine 
the  question.  We  would  take  aside  every  indivi- 
dual child  of  God  among  you  at  this  moment,  and 
suffer  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  to  stand,  or  fall,  ac- 
cording to  his  reply  to  this  inquiry,  Did  you,  in  your 
own  case,  first  choose  God,  or  did  God  choose 
you  1 

When  you  were  in  the  thoughtlessness,  and  care- 

*  John  Knox's  Treatise  on  Predestination,  p.  57. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


125 


lessness  of  childhood,  what  led  you  to  the  knowledge 
of  your  Maker,  and  your  Redeemer  1  When  you 
were  forgetting  him  in  your  youth,  and  beginning, 
or  perhaps  more  than  beginning,  to  tread  the  down- 
ward path,  who  arrested  your  steps?  Who  held 
you  back,  when  on  the  very  brink  of  everlasting 
ruin  ?  Who,  when  you  were  resolutely  bent  upon 
disregarding  him,  and  dishonouring  him,  when  you 
had  indeed  wandered  far  from  him,  reasoned  with 
you,  strove  with  you,  and  drawing  you  "  with  the 
bands  of  love,"  at  the  last  overcame  you,  and  car- 
ried you  home  "  on  his  shoulders  rejoicing  ?" 

And  were  you  alone  in  sin,  had  you  no  compa- 
nions in  iniquity,  and  where  are  they  ?  Have  they 
also  returned  to  God  ?  Are  they  now  among  his 
people  ?  What  then,  you  were  not  alone  in  sin, 
but  you  have  been  alone  in  your  repentance,  alone 
in  your  present  state  of  acceptance  with  God ! 
Who  then  has  made  you  to  differ?  Who  has 
snatched  you,  as  a  brand  from  the  burning  1  Who 
has  saved  you,  where  others,  in  the  midst  of  equal 
privileges,  and  equal  opportunities,  have  been  cut 
off'  in  their  career  of  impenitence  and  sin,  and,  as 
we  fear,  for  ever  perished '?  We  are  convinced 
that  each  would  answer,  It  was  God,  even  my 
God  :  thanks  be  to  God  for  exercising  his  grace, 
11* 


126 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


according  to  his  sovereign  will,  and  not  according 
to  my  deservings.  "  So  then  it  is  not  of  him  that 
willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth,  but  of  God  that 
showeth  mercy."* 

Yes,  brethren,  this  is  one  of  those  subjects 
which  derive  their  most  unanswerable  arguments 
from  the  testimony  of  our  own  consciences,  from 
what  we  feel  within  us,  and  from  what  we  see 
around  us.  I  would  not  stir  one  hair's  breadth  to 
induce  any  human  being  to  receive  these  opinions, 
until  his  own  experience  has  preached  them  to  him, 
or  his  own  heart  has  anxiously  sought  them,  as 
the  channel  through  which  to  pour  the  full  flood 
of  its  gratitude  to  the  Giver  of  all  its  blessings. 

We  have  seen,  in  the  course  of  our  inquiry,  that 
there  are  three  methods,  in  which  the  terms  of 
electing,  or  choosing,  are  applied  in  Holy  Writ ; 
the  election  to  an  office,  the  election  of  nations  or 
communities  to  external  privileges,  and  the  election 
of  persons  to  eternal  salvation.  We  have  next  to 
investigate  which  of  the  three  is  adopted  by  our 
Church  in  the  Article  before  us.  The  very  first 
words  of  the  Article  appear  to  us  to  decide  the 
question,  "  Predestination  to  life."  Not,  therefore, 
predestination  to  office,  or  employment ;  not,  as 

*  Rom.  ix.  16. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


127 


some  explain  it,  predestination  to  any  national  ad- 
vantages, or  outward  means  of  grace,  but  "  pre- 
destination to  life,"  to  spiritual  life  here,  and  to 
eternal  life  hereafter. 

Should  there  be  any,  however,  who  do  not  consi- 
der these  opening  words  to  be  so  decisive  upon  this 
point  as  we  are  led  to  believe,  it  may  perhaps  as- 
sist them  in  coming  to  a  right  conclusion,  if  they 
will  only  take  an  unprejudiced  view  of  the  remain- 
der of  the  passage,  which  we  have  already  quoted. 
In  this,  the  Church  distinctly  declares,  that  the  pre- 
destination of  which  she  is  speaking  is  "  the  ever- 
lasting purpose  of  God,  to  deliver  from  curse,  and 
damnation,  those  whom  he  hath  chosen  in  Christ, 
out  of  mankind."  Now  it  is  evident,  that  if  the 
compilers  of  our  Article  had  intended  to  refer  only 
to  national  election,  they  would  scarcely  have  em- 
ployed such  terms  as  these,  for  they  must  too  well 
have  known,  that  many  who  were  in  the  fullest 
enjoyment  of  all  the  outward  ordinances  of  re- 
ligion, might  eventually  not  be  delivered  from 
"  curse  and  damnation,"  but  after  all  their  external 
advantages,  make- shipwreck  of  their  faith,  to  the 
eternal  ruin  of  their  souls.  When  therefore  the 
compilers  say  that  the  predesti nation  of  which  they 
speak,  is  a  "predestination  to  life,"  and  the  election 


128 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


of  which  they  speak,  is  the  choice  out  "  of  man- 
kind," of  those  whom  God  will  "deliver  from  curse 
and  damnation,"  and  will  bring  by  Christ  to  ever- 
lasting salvation,"  it  certainly  does  appear,  that 
however  wise  men,  and  good  men,  may  differ  as 
to  their  interpretation  of  Scripture,  upon  this  point, 
they  cannot  easily  differ,  as  to  their  interpretation 
of  the  views  of  our  Church,  respecting  this  great 
subject.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  we  be- 
lieve the  opinion  of  our  Church,  upon  the  question 
of  particular  election  to  eternal  life,  to  be  as  deci- 
sive as  any  opinion  she  has  ever  expressed  in  her 
accredited  formularies. 

Although  we  thus  clearly  state  our  own  convic- 
tion of  the  sentiments  of  our  Church  upon  this 
point,  we  would  desire  to  exercise  the  greatest 
moderation,  while  maintaining  them.  We  believe 
that  many  holy  men,  who  are  ranged  among  her 
true,  and  attached  followers,  do  not  view  this  sub- 
ject in  the  same  light.  We  are  unable  to  agree 
with  them  ;  but  this  difference  of  sentiment  neither 
diminishes  our  respect  for  their  piety,  nor  our 
opinion  of  their  sincerity  or  their  judgment.  We 
are  willing  to  concede  to  them  the  point,  that  these 
doctrines  are  not  to  be  brought  forward  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  Christian  instruction,  in  any  other, 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


129 


or  more  prominent  positions  than  they  occupy  in 
the  revealed  Word  of  our  God.   We  are  willing  to 
consider  them,  not  as  topics  of  discussion  for  the 
young  Christian,  but  as  consolations  for  the  estab- 
lished believer,  as  the  solace  of  the  depressed,  the 
sustenance  of  the   fainting,  the  support  of  the  de- 
parting servants  of  the  Lord ;  and  surely  they 
who  differ  from  us  should,  on  their  part,  be  willing 
to  concede  to  us,  that  if  we  believe  we  find  such 
doctrines  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  if  we  feel  them 
to  be  necessary  to  our  own  stability,  and  to  our 
own  comfort,  we  should  be  left  in  the  peaceful  en- 
joyment of  them,  without  having  deductions,  which 
we  never  draw,  and  conclusions,  which  we  never 
arrive  at,  forced  upon  us  as  our  own,  and  the  hor- 
rible consequences  of  these  imaginary  deductions, 
and  conclusions,  visited  upon  our  heads.  However, 
then,  we  may  differ  upon  these  high  subjects,  which, 
after  all,  must  ever  be  more  speculative  than  prac- 
tical, let  us,  my  brethren,  resolve  that,  as  regards 
ourselves,  they  shall  never,  under  any  degree  of 
provocation,  lead  us  to  the  adoption  of  bitterness  of 
language,  or  acerbity  of  feeling;  or  even  to  the 
diminution  of  Christian   love,  towards  those  of 
whom,  whatever  be  the  differences  between  us 
upon  these  mysterious  points,  we  believe,  and  re- 


130 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


joice  to  believe,  that  they  are  the  followers  of  the 
same  Master,  with  a  love  as  fervent,  and  a  service 
as  acceptable,  as  the  best  among  ourselves. 

All  that,  as  your  minister,  I  wTould  require  of 
you  is,  to  "  search  the  Scriptures  daily  and  see 
whether  these  things  be  so."  Search  them,  not  in 
a  controversial  spirit,  a  spirit  in  which  no  religious 
question,  and  still  less  one  so  deeply  mysterious 
as  that  before  us,  ought  ever  to  be  approached ; 
but  search  them,  with  a  prayerful  desire  to  be  led 
into  all  truth,  that  you  may  be  the  better  able  to 
glorify  the  God  of  truth.  The  days,  we  trust,  shall 
arrive,  when  the  differences  of  opinion  to  which 
we  have  just  adverted,  shall  make  no  diminution 
in  the  regard  with  which  each  member  of  the  body 
of  Christ  shall  behold  every  other  member ;  when 
the  terms  Arminian  and  Calvinist,  Orthodox,  and 
Evangelical,  shall  be  forgotten,  and  when  the  only 
distinction  known  within  our  Church,  shall  be,  that 
which  must  always  arise  from  the  ever-varying 
degrees  of  love  to  God,  and  conformity  to  his  will, 
and  holiness  of  of  life,  and  charity  of  thought,  and 
word,  and  action,  manifested  in  the  progressive 
sanctification  of  all  his  children. 

The  Article  before  us,  having  then,  as  we  be- 
lieve, clearly  propounded  the  doctrine  of  election 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


131 


unto  everlasting  life,  of  "  those  who  are  chosen  in 
Christ  out  of  mankind,"  continues  thus  to  speak  of 
its  practical  results:  "Wherefore  they  which  be 
endued  with  so  excellent  a  benefit  of  God,  be 
called  according  to  God's  purpose  by  his  Spirit 
working  in  due  season;  they  through  grace  obey 
the  calling;  they  be  justified  freely;  they  be  made 
sons  of  God  by  adoption  ;  they  be  made  like  the 
image  of  his  only-begotten  Son  Jesus  Christ ;  they 
walk  religiously  in  good  works,  and  at  length,  by 
God's  mercy,  they  attain  to  everlasting  felicity."* 

This  plain  and  beautiful  passage  seems  written 
expressly  with  a  view  to  that  declaration  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  which  we  meet  with  in  Romans  viii. 
30,  "  Whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also 
called  ;  and  whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justi- 
fied ;  and  whom  he  justified,  them  he  also  glori- 
fied." It  distinctly  marks  the  progress  of  the  true 
people  of  God,  from  their  first  effectual  calling  by 
the  Spirit  of  Grace,  through  their  justification, 
their  adoption,  their  sanctification,  up  to  their  ever- 

*  It  is,  perhaps,  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that,  throughout 
this  passage,  every  clause,  "  They  through  grace,"  &c, "They  be 
justified,"  &c,  is  a  predicate  true  only  if  the  election  spoken  of 
by  our  Church  be  admitted  to  be  a  personal  election;  but  abso- 
lutely false,  if  it  be  considered  a  national  election. 


132 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


lasting  felicity ;  and  asserts  that  all  is  of  grace,  of 
free,  boundless,  undesarved  grace,  from  their  first 
election  of  God  before  all  time,  throughout  their 
holy  obedience  to  God  in  time,  and  to  their  final 
glorification  with  God,  when  time  shall  be  no  longer. 

While  upon  this  portion  of  the  Article,  it  is 
important  to  remark,  as  we  have  before  had  occa- 
sion to  do,  the  extreme  caution  and  watchfulness 
of  our  Church,  not  to  admit  a  single  questionable 
statement  into  these  valuable  documents.  You  will 
observe  that  the  subject  of  reprobation,  or  the  Cal- 
vinistic  doctrine,  that  as  certain  persons  are  elected 
to  eternal  life,  so  certain  persons  are  elected  to 
eternal  condemnation,  is  left  entirely  untouched. 
The  compilers  of  our  Articles  were  never  tempted 
to  enter  upon  those  unhallowed  deductions,  with 
which  men  are  so  apt  to  delight  themselves  on  this 
high  subject,  saying,  If  it  please  God  to  elect  cer- 
tain persons  in  Christ,  to  "  bring  to  everlasting  sal- 
vation, as  vessels  made  to  honour,"  then  must  he, 
by  this  act,  condemn,  or,  at  the  very  least,  pass  by 
all  others,  and  seal  them  up  under  final  condemna- 
tion. Not  a  word  of  this  kind  is  to  be  found  in 
our  Articles,  in  our  Homilies,  or  in  our  Liturgy; 
no,  not  although  you  search  the  accredited  formu- 
laries of  our  Church  from  end  to  end,  will  you  find 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


133 


a  single  sentence  breathing  such  a  doctrine.  The 
fact  is,  that,  upon  this  point,  it  has,  at  least  so  it  ap- 


pleased  our  Church  also  to  assert  nothing.* 

Far  be  it,  then,  from  me  to  speak  dogmatically, 
where  our  Church  is  silent,  but,  as  regards  my  own 
opinion,  as  there  may  be  those  among  you  who 
might  desire  to  know  the  sentiments  of  your 
minister  upon  so  weighty,  so  tremendous  a  point,  1 
feel  no  hesitation  in  declaring,  that  I  believe  the 
doctrine  of  reprobation,  to  be  as  utterly  at  variance 

*  There  are  indeed  some  excellent  cautions  towards  the  latter 
part  of  the  Article  ;  but  we  do  not  think  that  these  invalidate 
what  we  have  just  asserted,  or  refer  in  any  degree  to  the  doctrine 
of  reprobation,  but  simply  to  an  unhallowed,  and  licentious  view 
of  the  great  doctrine  propounded  in  the  former  part.  Thus,  after 
declaring  that  the  godly  consideration  of  predestination,  is  full  of 
sweet,  pleasant,  and  unspeakable  comfort  to  godly  persons,  44  as 
well  because  it  doth  greatly  establish  and  confirm  their  faith  of 
eternal  salvation,  to  be  enjoyed  through  Christ,  as  because  it  doth 
fervently  kindle  their  love  to  God,"  the  Article  proceeds  to  show 
that  the  consideration  of  the  same  subject  by  curious  and  carnal 
persons,  lacking  the  Spirit  of  God,  44  is  a  most  dangerous  down- 
fall, whereby  the  devil  doth  thrust  them  either  into  desperation  or 
into  recklessness  of  most  unclean  living ;"  plainly  referring  to 
those  who  argue,  that  if  they  are  elected,  no  sin  can  hinder  them, 
and  if  they  are  not  elected,  no  holiness  can  help  them. 


12 


134 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


with  all  that  is  revealed  to  us  of  the  character  of 
God,  as  with  those  many  unequivocal  declarations 
of  his  Divine  Word,  that  "  He  willeth  not  that  any 
should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  repent- 
ance." That  he  has  "  No  pleasure  in  the  death  of 
a  sinner,  but  rather  that  he  should  turn  from  his 
wickedness  and  live."  While  it  appears  to  me  that 
the  inspired  writers,  and  even  our  Lord  himself, 
speaking,  as  they  often  do,  very  distinctly  upon  the 
doctrine  of  election,  always  take  especial  care  to 
except  the  doctrine  of  reprobation.*    Thus,  in  the 

*  That  this  is  the  view  of  all  the  best  authorities  in  our  Church 
might  easily  be  shown,  but  a  single  passage  from  Hooker  must  suf- 
fice : — "  For  if  God's  electing  do,  in  order,  (as  needs  it  must,)  pre- 
suppose the  foresight  of  their  being  that  are  elected,  though  they 
be  elected  before  they  be  ;  nor  only  the  positive  foresight  of  their 
being,  but  also  the  permissive  of  their  being  miserable,  because 
election  is  through  mercy,  and  mercy  doth  always  pre  suppose 
misery ;  it  followeth,  that  the  very  chosen  of  God  acknowledge  to 
the  praise  of  the  riches  of  his  exceeding  free  compassion,  that 
when  he  in  his  secret  determination  set  it  down,  1  Those  shall  live 
and  not  die?  they  lay  as  ugly  spectacles  before  him,  as  lepers  .... 
miserable,  worthy  to  be  had  in  detestation  ;  and  shall  any  forsaken 
creature  be  able  to  say  unto  God, 1  Thou  didst  plunge  me  into  the 
depth,  and  assign  me  unto  endless  torments,  only  to  satisfy  thine 
own  will,  finding  nothing  in  me  for  which  I  could  seem  in  thy 
sight  so  well  worthy  to  feel  everlasting  flames  V  " — Hooker's  An- 
swer to  Tr avers,  page  482,  Edit.  1622. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


135 


description  of  the  final  judgment  in  the  twenty-fifth 
chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  our  Lord  appears  to  take 
for  granted  the  former  of  these  doctrines  as  a  well- 
established  truth,  when  he  says,  "  Then  shall  the 
King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand,  Come  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  ;"  while  at 
the  same  time,  he  appears  as  distinctly  to  exclude 
the  latter  doctrine  when  he  adds,  "  Then  shall  he 
say  also  to  them  on  his  left  hand,  Depart  from  me, 
ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared"  (not  for 
you,  but)  "  for  the  devil  and  his  angels." 

If,  then,  "  We  receive  God's  promises  as  they  be 
generally  set  forth  to  us  in  Holy  Scripture,"  and 
not  as  they  be  limited  or  restricted  by  the  results  of 
human  reasoning,  we  shall,  on  the  one  hand,  neither 
desire  to  reject,  nor  to  explain  away,  nor  to  render 
futile,  such  mysterious  doctrines  as  those  which  we 
have  been  considering ;  nor  shall  we,  on  the  other 
hand,  be  afraid  to  give  their  full  and  literal,  mean- 
ing to  such  promises  as  these :  "  Whosoever  will, 
let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely."  "  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  While  in  fact,  we  shall 
hold  the  doctrine  of  this  Article,  viz.  particular 
election,  as  it  is  most  plainly  propounded  by  our 


136 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


Lord,  when  he  said,  "  All  that  the  Father  giveth  me 
shall  come  to  me,"  we  shall  hold  the  great  doctrine 
of  universal  redemption,*  which  appears  to  be  with 
equal  plainness  involved  in  the  concluding  passage, 
"  Him  that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out." 
Whether  we  are  able  or  unable  to  reconcile  these 
apparently  conflicting  statements  is  of  little  moment ; 
both  are  to  be  found  in  the  unerring  word  of  God, 
and  therefore  each  is  of  equal  importance  and  of 
equal  truth  ;  and  receiving  both  in  humility  and 
in  love,  we  shall  raise  our  heartfelt  acknowledg- 
ments upon  every  review  of  these  blessed  and  life- 
giving  truths,  to  "  God  the  Father,  who  hath  made 
us  and  all  the  world  ;  to  God  the  Son,  who  hath  re- 

*  The  doctrine  of  universal  redemption,  (very  different  from 
the  figment  of  universal  pardon,)  is  most  emphatically  stated  in 
the  31st  Article  of  our  Church,  which  says,  "  The  offering  of 
Christ  once  made  is  that  perfect  Redemption,  propitiation  and 
satisfaction  for  all  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  both  original  and 
actual."  That  this  was  the  opinion  of  the  chief  compiler  of  our 
Articles,  may  be  seen  from  many  parts  of  his  works ;  e.  g.  "  This 
is  the  honour  and  glory  of  our  High  Priest,  wherein  he  admitteth 
neither  partner  nor  successor.  For  by  his  one  oblation  he  satis- 
fied the  Father  of  all  men's  sins." — Cranmefs  Answer  to  Gar- 
diner, p.  372.  "  Mark  here,  he  saith, '  Come  all  ye ;'  wherefore 
then  should  any  man  despair  to  shut  out  himself  from  these 
promises  of  Christ,  which  be  general  and  pertain  to  the  whole 
world."— Sermons,  p.  182,  Edit.  1584. 


ARTICLE  XYIL 


137 


deemed  us  and  all  mankind ;  and  to  God  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  sanctifieth  us  and  all  the  elect  people  of 
God." — (Catechism  of  the  Church  of  England.) 

We  have  seen,  then,  that  the  end  to  which  we 
are  elected  by  God,  is  everlasting  life;  but  we  must 
never  forget  that  faith  and  holiness  are  the  means 
through  which  we  must  pass  to  it;  that  there  is  no 
instance  in  sacred  writ  in  which  this  end  and  these 
means  are  disunited.  All  tend  to  this  point,  that 
"we  are  his  workmanship,  created  in  Christ  Jesus 
unto  good  works,  which  God  hath  before  ordained 
that  we  should  walk  in  them."  "  For  whom  He 
did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predestinate,"  says  the 
Apostle,  u  to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son." 
It  is  then  perfectly  clear,  that  none  are  among  the 
elect  people  of  God,  who  do  not  obey  the  call  to 
that  faith  in  a  crucified  Redeemer, ;<  without  which 
no  man  living  shall  be  justified,"  and  to  that  "  holi- 
ness, without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord :" 
that  none  are  predestinated  to  everlasting  life,  who 
are  not  "  conformed  to  the  image  of  the  Saviour," 
i.  e.,  imitating  him  in  their  life  and  conversation : 
that  none  are  "  chosen  in  Christ  out  of  the  world." 
who  are  not  also  "  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto 
good  works."  Bear  then  continually  in  mind,  bre- 
thren, that  if  you  are  elect  to  the  enjoyment  of  ever- 
12* 


138 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


lasting  life,  it  can  only  be  "  through  sanctification  of 
the  Spirit  unto  obedience  and  sprinkling  of  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ;"*  that  if,  as  the  Article  ex- 
presses it,  "  Predestination  to  life  is  the  everlasting 
purpose  of  God,"  concerning  you  "  whom  he  hath 
chosen  in  Christ  out  of  mankind,"  it  is  equally 
his  everlasting  purpose  "  that  you  should  be  holy 
and  without  blame  before  Him  in  love."f  No  man 
ever  was  or  ever  can  be  elected  to  the  end,  who 
was  not  elected  in  the  way  which  leads  to  it.  Be 
assured,  therefore,  that  unless  you  are  united  by  a 
living  faith  to  the  Saviour — unless  you  are  con- 
tinually striving  after  conformity  to  His  will,  obedi- 
ence to  His  laws,  love  to  His  person,  hatred  to,  and 
abstinence  from  all  sin,  you  have  no  evidence,  you 
can  have  no  evidence,  that  your  names  are  written 
in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life ;  for  be  ye  sure  of  this, 
that  no  man  who  is  not  found  cleansed  and  purified 
by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  walking  while  on  earth 
in  the  straight  and  narrow  way  which  alone  leads 
to  heaven,  can  ever  hope  to  be  ultimately  found  in 
that  heaven  the  gate  of  which,  though  "  wide 
enough  to  admit  the  greatest  sinner,  is  too  narrow 
to  admit  the  smallest  sin."  "  Give,  therefore,  dili- 
gence, to  make  your  calling  and  election  sure;" 

*  1  Pet.  i.  2.  t  Ephes.  i.  4. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


139 


not  simply  to  obtain  an  assurance  of  it,  as  some 
would  explain  away  the  meaning  of  the  passage, 
but  to  make  it  sure,  firm,  secure,  steadfast.  Re- 
collect, an  Apostle  could  declare,  "  I  keep  under  my 
body,  and  bring  it  into  subjection,  lest  that  by  any 
means  when  I  have  preached  to  others,  I  myself 
should  be  a  cast-away  ;"  and  let  the  recollection 
urge  you  to  greater  zeal,  greater  prayerfulness, 
greater  holiness,  "  Giving  all  diligence  to  add  to 
your  faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue  knowledge,  and  to 
knowledge  temperance,  and  to  temperance  patience, 
and  to  patience  godliness,  and  to  godliness  brother- 
ly kindness,  and  to  brotherly  kindness  charity;" 
"  for  if  ye  do  these  things,  ye  shall  never  fall." 

In  conclusion,  if  I  address  any  of  you  who  are 
unable  to  receive  the  truths,  of  which  we  have  this 
day  spoken,  as  the  truths  of  God,  "  Let  not  your 
hearts  be  troubled,  neither  be  afraid."  "  Then 
shall  ye  know,  if  ye  follow  on  to  know  the  Lord," 
is  his  own  most  gracious  promise,  and  in  due  time 
will  assuredly  be  fulfilled  to  all  who  seek  it.  If  you 
need  the  consolation  or  encouragement  which  this 
blessed  doctrine  is  so  well  calculated  to  bestow, 
we  doubt  not  that  it  will  be  given  you:  if  you  need 
it  not,  and  do  not,  and  cannot  receive  it,  be  careful 
not  to  be  tempted  to  scorn  those  who  hold  it,  lest 


140 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


haply  you  be  found  even  to  fight  against  God.  Be 
content  to  rest  upon  that  Rock  of  Ages  on  which 
we  are  all  resting;  to  dwell  on  those  things  on 
which  all  the  children  of  God  agree,  and  to  leave 
those  on  which  they  differ,  till  a  day  of  brighter 
light,  and  more  unclouded  sunshine.  It  is  an  un- 
speakable blessing  to  know  that  there  is  not  any 
difficulty,  and,  blessed  be  God,  there  has  never  been, 
among  real  Christians,  any  controversy  respecting 
the  one  great  truth  which  is  the  basis  of  our  hope, 
the  foundation  of  our  eternity,  viz.,  "  The  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin ;"  and  he  is 
able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come  unto  God 
by  Him.  If  your  souls  are  ever  tempest-tossed 
upon  that  ocean  of  the  mysteries  of  God  which  man 
can  never  fathom,  here  they  may  find  an  anchorage, 
whence  neither  wind  nor  wave  can  drive  them.  It 
is  a  declaration  so  plain  "  that  he  may  run  that 
readeth  it;"#  and  yet  so  powerful,  the  guiltiest 
sinner  upon  earth,  needs  no  plea  more  availing  to 
enable  him  to  stand  before  the  bar  of  God,  in  gar- 
ments of  as  unspotted  whiteness  as  ever  graced 
the  angels  and  archangels  who  surround  his  throne. 
"The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin." 
None  can  be  saved  who  fly  not  to  that  cleansing 

*  Hab.  ii,  2. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


141 


blood,  none  can  be  lost  who  go  as  penitent  believers 
there.  On  this  vital  point,  you  who  deny  the  doc- 
trine of  election  believe  no  less  ;  and  we  who  hold  the 
doctrine  believe  no  more.  Here  upon  this  keystone 
of  the  arch  of  our  salvation,  all  true  believers,  of 
every  kindred,  and  nation,  and  people,  and  tongue, 
have  taken  their  fixed  and  final  stand.  Heaven 
and  earth  may  pass  away,  ?nust  pass  away,  but 
amidst  the  ruin  of  a  falling  world,  this  keystone 
of  the  arch  shall  remain  unshaken,  and  not  an  indi- 
vidual, from  our  great  forefather  Adam,  to  his  last 
and  youngest  son,  who  has  firmly  set  his  foot  upon 
that  arch,  but  shall  be  pronounced  a  conqueror,  and 
"  more  than  conqueror,  through  Him  thatloveth  us." 
May  we,  brethren,  be  found,  upon  that  great  and 
coming  day,  thus  planted  upon  the  Rock  of  Ages; 
may  we  even  now  taste  something  of  the  stability 
and  comfort  which  this  can  alone  impart,  and  on 
that  day  when  all  else  shall  for  ever  pass  away 
from  beneath  our  feet,  may  we,  firmly  fixed  on  this 
immovable  foundation,  take  up  the  Conqueror's 
song  and  exclaim,  "  Thanks  be  to  God  who  hath 
given  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  !"* 

*  "In  chapters  ix.  x.,  &c,  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  St. 
Paul  treats  the  sentence  of  Predestination.  For  from  that  alone 
depend  all  things ;  that  is,  who  will  or  not  receive  the  Word,  who 


142 


DISCOURSE  VI. 


will  or  not  believe,  who  are  to  be  delivered  from  sin,  who  bunded, 

who  condemned,  and  who  justified   And  assuredly  this 

firm  sentence  and  immovable  necessity  of  predestination  is  most 
necessary.  For  so  weak  are  we,  that  were  it  placed  in  our  hands, 
very  few  or  none  would  be  saved.  For  the  devil  would  overcome 
all.  But  now  since  this  firm  and  most  certain  sentence  of  God 
cannot  be  changed  nor  reversed  by  any  creature,  there  is  a  hope 
surely  left  us  of  conquering  sin  at  length,  how  much  soever  it 
now  rage  in  the  flesh.  But  here  those  inquisitive  persons  are  to 
be  checked,  who,  before  they  have  learned  Christ  and  the  virtue  of 
the  cross,  pry  into  the  abyss  of  predestination,  and  vainly  seek  to 
know  whether  they  are  predestinated  or  not.  For  these  will 
doubtless  lead  and  precipitate  themselves  by  their  own  foolish 
curiosity  into  the  snares  of  conscience  or  desperation.  But  do  thou 
in  the  process  of  learning  sacred  truth,  follow  the  train  and  order 
delivered  by  the  Apostle.  First,  learn  to  know  Christ  that  thou 
mayest  confess  thine  own  powers  of  no  avail  but  to  sin.  Then 
wrestle  diligently  with  the  flesh  by  faith,  as  he  teaches  in  chap, 
vii.    Presently,  when  thou  have  come  to  the  viiith  chap.,  that  is, 

when  thou  hast  had  trial  of  tribulation  and  the  cross,  then, 

for  the  first  time,  this  necessity  of  predestination  will  grow  sweet, 
then,  for  the  first  time,  thou  wilt  perceive  in  chapters  x.  xi.  how 
full  of  comfort  is  predestination.  For  unless  thou  hast  experienced 
tribulation;  unless  thou  hast  felt  thyself  brought,  as  we  see  in  David 
and  other  saints,  sometimes  to  the  gates  of  hell,  thou  canst  not 
handle  the  sentence  of  predestination  without  danger,  and,  as  it 
were,  a  blasphemous  murmuring  of  nature  against  God.  It  is  ne- 
cessary, therefore,  that  the  old  Adam  should  be  mortified  and  the 
senses  of  the  flesh  bruised,  and  that  the  babes  in  Christ  should 
grow  to  riper  age  before  they  drink  this  strong  wine." — Luther's 
Preface  to  Ep.  to  the  Romans.    Works,  vol.  v.  100.    Witeb.  1554. 


ARTICLE  XVII. 


143 


The  above  passage  (for  calling  his  attention  to  which  the 
Author  is  indebted  to  a  note  in  the  Rev.  V.  Short's  History  of  the 
Church  of  England)  seems  entirely  the  groundwork  of  the  17th 
Article  of  our  Church,  and  fully  justifies  us  in  saying  that  the 
Article  is  more  Lutherian  than  Calvinistic.  At  the  same  time, 
it  differs  as  widely  from  the  views  of  those  who  imagine  election 
to  be  confined  to  national  privileges  (for  where  would  be  the 
"  strong  wine,"  "  meracum,"  in  the  doctrine  of  national  election  ?) 
as  it  does  from  those  who,  with  Calvin,  consider  personal  election 
to  be  a  doctrine  lying  at  the  foundation  of  our  faith,  and  upon 
which  "the  babes  in  Christ"  are  to  be  built,  instead  of  reserving 
it  for  the  topstone  of  the  arch,  the  crowning  truth  of  our  religion, 
revealed  for  the  comfort  and  encouragement  of  those  who  have  al- 
ready learnt "  to  know  Christ"  and  have  found  by  experience,  that  if 
their  salvation  were  placed  in  their  own  hands,  "  the  devil  would 
overcome  all."  In  truth,  it  is  a  doctrine  which  the  head  must  con- 
descend to  learn  from  the  heart. 

As  an  example  of  the  spirit  in  which  such  truths  should  be  main- 
tained, see  an  affecting  letter  of  the  martyr,  John  Bradford,  M  To 
certain  men  not  rightly  persuaded  in  the  most  true,  comfortable, 
and  necessary  doctrine  of  God's  holy  election  and  predestination." 
— Letter  lxvii. 


144 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


DISCOURSE  VII. 

TITUS  III.  4,5,  6. 

"  But  after  that  the  kindness  and  love  of  God  our  Saviour 
towards  man  appeared,  not  by  works  of  righteousness 
which  we  have  done,  but  according-  to  His  mercy  He 
saved  us,  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  the  renew- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  which  He  shed  on  us  abundantly, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour." 

The  only  two  doctrinal  Articles  which  now 
remain  to  be  brought  under  review,  are  the  27th 
and  28th,  which  contain  the  opinions  of  our  Re- 
formers upon  the  two  sacraments  which  "  Christ 
ordained  in  his  Church,"  "  Baptism,  and  the  Supper 
of  the  Lord." 

The  27th  Article,  which  is  confined  to  the  very 
important  subject  of  Christian  baptism,  will  afford, 
under  the  Divine  blessing,  profitable  matter  for  our 
present  consideration. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  remind  you,  that  bap- 
tism is  that  initiatory  rite  established  by  the  great 
Founder  of  our  holy  religion,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 


ARTICLE  XXVII. 


145 


himself,  when  he  said,  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach 
all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Fa- 
ther, and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
Through  this  Divine  ordinance,  as  through  a  por- 
tal, it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  speaking  generally,* 
that  all  true  converts  are  required  to  pass  before 
they  can  be  considered  members  of  the  visible 
Church  of  the  Redeemer  upon  earth,  or  inheritors 
of  its  blessings  in  eternity, — "  He  that  believeth, 
and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved." 

Rightly  to  understand  the  important  post  oc- 
cupied by  this  Christian  sacrament  at  the  very 
threshold  of  the  religion  we  profess,  it  is  well  to  bear 
in  mind  the  nature  of  that  initiatory  ceremony  which 
stood  equally  at  the  threshold  of  the  religion  which 
Christianity  superseded.  We  find,  then,  that  at 
eight  days  old  every  male  of  the  children  of  Israel 
was  solemnly  dedicated  to  the  God  of  Israel  by  the 
rite  of  circumcision.  In  this  rite  the  infant  entered 
into  covenant  with  God,  and  became  one  of  that 
visible  Church  of  God  on  earth,  of  which  the 
Apostle  predicates  such  illustrious  things,  when  he 
says,  "  To  whom  pertaineth  the  adoption,  and  the 

*  "  Q.  How  many  sacraments  hath  Christ  ordained  in  his 
Church  ? — A.  Two  only,  as  generally  necessary  to  salvation." — 
Catechism  of  the  Church  of  England. 

13 


146 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


glory,  and  the  covenants."  To  every  child,  then, 
who  was  circumcised  according  to  the  letter  of 
God's  law,  a  free  access  was  opened  to  all  the 
abundant  spiritual  blessings  which  the  chosen  peo- 
ple of  God  enjoyed,  since,  all  infant  as  he  was, 
he  was  included  in  the  covenant  which  God  had 
made  with  Israel ;  and,  unless  from  his  own  subse- 
quent misconduct  he  forfeited  these  blessings,  he 
was  numbered  among  the  true  Israelites,*  the  pos- 
sessors of  the  land  of  promise  here,  the  inheritors 
of  the  land  of  promise  hereafter. 

It  was  natural,  then,  that  in  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation, which  is  called  in  Scripture  "  the  better 
covenant,"  and  with  reference  to  which  it  was  de- 
clared that  Christ  should,  "  in  all  things  have  the 
pre-eminence"  over  Moses,  there  should  be  some 
initiatory  rite  by  which  the  infant  children  of  be- 
lievers should  be  brought  into  covenant  with  God, 
and  be  permitted,  at  as  early  an  age,  to  enjoy  at 
least  all  the  spiritual  advantages  which  had  been 
enjoyed  in  the  Jewish  Church,  and  with  as  large  an 
addition  to  those  advantages  as  the  freeness  and 
the  fulness  of  the  Gospel  dispensation  exceeded 
those  of  the  Jewish. 

What  might  so  reasonably  have  been  anticipated 

*  "They  are  not  all  Israel,  which  are  of  Israel." — Rom.  ix.  6. 


ARTICLE  XXVII.  147 

from  the  mercy  and  tender  compassion  of  our  God, 
his  own  word,  as  we  shall  see,  assures  us  is  come 
to  pass ;  and  it  is  in  dependence  upon  the  authority 
of  that  word,  that  our  Reformers  declared  such 
great  and  glorious  things  respecting  Christian  bap- 
tism, as  we  find  throughout  all  the  offices  of  our 
Church. 

To  demonstrate  this,  I  shall  commence  by  refer- 
ring you  to  the  first  answer  in  the  Church  Cate- 
chism, in  which  the  child  is  taught  to  declare,  re- 
specting his  baptism,  that  therein  he  "  was  made  a 
member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  While,  in  answer  to 
"  What  is  the  inward  and  spiritual  grace  of  bap- 
tism ?"  he  is  taught  to  reply,  "  A  death  unto  sin, 
and  a  new  birth  unto  righteousness ;  for,  being  by 
nature  born  in  sin,  and  the  children  of  wrath,  we 
are  hereby  made  the  children  of  grace."  And 
this  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  baptismal 
service,  in  w7hich  the  Church  teaches  us  to  pray 
that  the  infant  then  brought  to  God  "  may  receive 
remission  of  his  sins  by  spiritual  regeneration ;" 
and,  having  so  asked,  she  again,  in  "  the  full  assu- 
rance of  faith,"  that  "  whatsoever  we  ask  in  prayer 
believing,  we  shall  receive,"  if  it  be  according  to 


i 

148  DISCOURSE  VII. 

the  will*  of  God,  and  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  directs 
us  to  return  our  humble  and  hearty  thanks  to  Al- 
mighty God,  "that  it  hath  pleased  him  to  regenerate 
this  infant  mind  with  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  receive  him 
for  his  own  child  by  adoption,  and  to  incorporate 
him  into  his  holy  Church."f 

The  doctrine  which  our  Reformers  propounded 
so  plainly  in  the  Catechism,  and  in  the  Baptismal 
Service,  will  be  found  stated  with  equal  clearness 
and  truth  in  the  Article  now  before  us. 

"  XXVII.    Of  Baptism. 

"  Baptism  is  not  only  a  sign  of  profession  and 
mark  of  difference,  whereby  Christian  men  are 
discerned  from  others  that  be  not  christened,  but  it 
is  also  a  sign  of  regeneration,  or  new  birth,  where- 
by, as  by  an  instrument,  they  that  receive  baptism 
rightly  are  grafted  into  the  Church ;  the  promises 
of  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  of  our  adoption  to  be  the 
sons  of  God,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  visibly  signed 
and  sealed  ;  faith  is  confirmed,  and  grace  increased 
by  virtue  of  prayer  unto  God."J    Our  Church  de- 

*  I  John  v.  14.  t  Baptismal  Service. 

t  I  did  not  notice  the  concluding  passage  of  the  Article,  viz., 
"The  baptism  of  young  children,  is  in  any  wise  to  be  retained 
in  the  Church,  as  most  agreeable  with  the  institution  of  Christ," 
because  it  appeared  needless  to  enter  upon  the  arguments  by 


ARTICLE  XXVII. 


149 


clares,  then,  in  these  words,  that  by  "  regeneration 
or  new  birth,"  they  that  "  receive  baptism  rightly 
are  grafted  into  the  Church,"  and  have  "  the  pro- 
mises of  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  of  their  adoption 
to  be  the  sons  of  God,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  visibly 
signed  and  sealed."  Now  let  us  endeavour  to  dis- 
encumber ourselves  of  all  human  systems,  and  for- 
getting the  long,  and  angry,  and  bitter  controversies 
which  have  arisen  upon  these  points,  refer  simply 
to  the  Word  of  God,  and  discover  how  far  the 
Church  is  borne  out,  in  these  her  declarations,  by 
the  authority  of  that  Word,  from  which,  as  Chris- 
tians, and  especially  as  Protestant  Christians,  we 
can  desire  no  appeal. 

We  commence,  then,  as  the  most  striking  and 
remarkable  of  all  the  declarations  of  Scripture 
upon  this  head,  with  the  words  'of  the  text,  "Not 
by  works  of  righteousness  which  we  have  done, 

which  infant  baptism  is  proved  to  be  according  to  the  will  of  God, 
while  addressing  a  congregation  who  entertain  no  doubts  upon 
the  subject.  The  fact  that  baptism  supplies  the  place  of  circum- 
cision, and  the  certainty  that,  unless  it  did  so,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  show  that  the  dispensation  under  which  we  live  is  in  all  things 
that  "better  covenant"  which  the  Spirit  of  God  pronounces  it; 
this,  added  to  the  uniform  practice  of  the  Christian  Church  for 
nearly  one  thousand  years,  appears  fully  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
mind  of  every  unprejudiced  inquirer. 

13* 


150 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


but  according  to  his  mercy  he  saved  us,  by  the 
washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  he  shed  on  us  abundantly, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour." 

Here,  then,  is  a  case  in  which  the  Spirit  of  God, 
speaking  of  baptism,  uses  the  phrase,  "  The  wash- 
ing of  regeneration,"  as  synonymous  with  it, 
meaning  therefore,  unquestionably,  that  the  wash- 
ing of  baptism  is  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  washing 
of  regeneration;  and  therefore  fully  authorising 
our  Church  to  use  the  language  which  we  have 
seen  that  she  adopts  respecting  this  important 
sacrament. 

That  this  is  no  isolated  passage,  but  that  the 
general  tenour  of  Scripture  bears  us  out  in  expect- 
ing these  great  things  from  Christian  baptism, 
when  "  rightly  received,"  may  easily  be  demon- 
strated. We  find  St.  Peter  replying  to  the  in- 
quiry of  the  three  thousand  converts  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  "  What  shall  we  do  ?"  "  Repent,  and 
be  baptised,  every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall 
receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  the  pro- 
mise is  unto  you  and  to  your  children,  and  to  all 
that  are  afar  ofT,  even  as  many  as  the  J^ord  our 
God  shall  call."    And  again,  "  Arise,  and  be  bap- 


ARTICLE  XXV11. 


151 


tized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins,  calling  upon  the 
name  of  the  Lord."  Acts  xxii.  16.  So,  also,  in 
Eph.  v.  26,  "  That  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse 
it  with  the  washing  of  water,  by  the  Word." 
And,  no  doubt,  grounded  upon  this,  and  similar 
statements  in  Holy  Writ,  is  that  declaration  of 
the  Nicene  Creed,  which  has  been  in  use  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  since  the  year  339,*  "  1  acknow- 
ledge one  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins." 
While  in  perfect  agreement  and  consistency  with 
this  belief,  we  are  informed  that  it  was  the  practice 
of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  East  to  sing  after 
baptism  the  thirty-second  Psalm,  "  Blessed  is  he 
whose  transgression  is  forgiven,  whose  sin  is 
covered,"  &c,  and,  according  to  St.  Ambrose, 
that  "  the  Priest  spoke  to  the  person  baptized  in 
this  manner,  God  the  Father  Almighty,  who  hath 
regenerated  thee  by  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  forgiven  thee  thy  sins,"f  &c,  clearly  show- 
ing that  the  primitive  Church  took  for  granted 
that  the  spiritual  effects,  the  "  inward  and  spiritual 
grace"  of  the  sacrament  were  its  accompaniments 
in  every  case  in  which  it  was  "rightly  received." 
Indeed  St.  Paul  himself  assumes,  with  the  same 
feeling  of  Christian  charity,  the  same  truth  with 

*  Bishop  Sparrow.  t  Dean  Comber. 


152 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


regard  to  his  Galatian  converts,  when  he  says, 
"  As  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into 
Christ  have  put  on  Christ."*  And  to  show  that  in 
this  passage  the  Apostle  does  not  intend  by  the 
phrase  "  putting  on  Christ,"  merely  to  express  that 
they  had  adopted  a  Christian  profession,  he  con- 
tinues, "  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  there  is 
neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither  male  nor 
female,  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  if 
ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed  and 
heirs  according  to  the  promise."  In  which  passage 
the  Apostle  evidently  intends  by  "  putting  on 
Christ,"  the  putting  him  on  spiritually,  as  well  as 
professedly,  the  being  "  renewed  in  the  spirit  of 
their  mind,"  and  the  putting  on  "  the  new  man 
which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and 
true  holiness."  So  far  is  he  from  saying  this  in  a 
merely  general  manner  of  the  Galatians  as  a 
Church,  that  he  adopts  a  form  of  speech  when  he 
says,  "  As  many  of  you,"  which  clearly  individua- 
lizes, as  much  as  our  Church  does  when  she  teaches 
us  to  thank  God  for  the  bestowal  of  the  blessing  in 
every  particular  case.  And  yet  it  would  indeed 
be  difficult  to  imagine  that  of  all  these  Galatian 

*  See  the  very  striking  observations  upon  this  text  in  Luther'a 
Commentary  on  Galatians  iii.  17. 


ARTICLE  XXVII. 


153 


converts,  not  one  was  ever  found  who  deserted 
the  faith  to  which  he  had  been  brought,  or  for- 
feited the  spiritual  blessings  of  which  he  had  at 
baptism  been  made  partaker,  or,  as  our  Church  ex- 
presses it,  "  fell  from  grace  given." 

The  great  duty  then  of  every  Christian  parent  in 
bringing  his  child  to  the  water  of  baptism,  which  we 
should  deduce  from  the  encouraging,  and,  as  we 
trust,  scriptural  view  of  this  holy  sacrament,  is  to 
"  draw  near  with  a  true  heart  in  full  assurance  of 
faith,"  asking  great  things  of  God,  and  expecting 
great  things  from  Him,  and  believing  that  He  who 
instituted  this  holy  sacrament  as  a  sign  and  seal  of 
spiritual  regeneration,  will,  when  it  is  "  rightly  re- 
ceived," be  present  by  his  Divine  Spirit,  to  ac- 
company it  then  and  there  by  the  blessing  of  which 
it  is  the  seal  and  sign,  that  the  child  so  offered  to 
God  may  be  then  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God, 
may  be  made  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
may  by  God's  grace  "  continue  Christ's  faithful 
soldier  and  servant  unto  his  life's  end." 

"  Would  to  God,"  my  brethren,  to  adopt  the 
language  of  an  eminent  prelate  who  has  occasion- 
ly  addressed  you  from  this  place,  "  that  this  truth 
were  better  understood,  and  this  primitive,  this 
reasonable  baptism  more  generally  practised  !  Then 


154 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


we  should  not  find  so  many  who,  though  born  of 
water  as  far  as  concerns  the  baptismal  rite,  are 
evidently  not  made  new  creatures  by  the  Spirit 
who  renews  and  sanctifies  the  soul."*    We  say 
then,  and  we  could  wish  that  the  view  which  we 
have  been  endeavouring  to  take  of  this  important 
spiritual   ordinance,  might   be   deeply  impressed 
upon  the  mind  of  every  Christian  parent,  for  we 
believe  that  it  would  tend  greatly,  not  only  to  im- 
prove the  feelings  with  which  all  would  bring  their 
children  to  the  baptismal  font,  but  to  improve  also 
the  manner  in  which  all  would  educate  their  children 
from  their  very  earliest  years,  in  the  heartfelt  love 
of  that  God  and  Saviour  who  had  already  done 
such  great  things  for  them.    We  say,  Christian 
parents,  look  well  to  your  privileges,  rejoice  in  them, 
plead  them  in  prayer  before  God,  and  act  upon 
them  in  all  your  intercourse  with  your  children. 
Tell  them  they  have  a  God  who  loves  them,  a  Sa- 
viour who  died  for  them,  a  Holy  Spirit  who  sancti- 
fies them ;  be  instant  with  them  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  that  they  in  return  may  love,  and  serve, 
and  imitate  their  Divine  and  blessed  Master.  We 
dare  not  assert  that  in  every  such  case,  the  event 
will  be,  that  your  children  shall  really  inherit  the 

*  Bishop  of  Chester's  Lectures  on  St.  John,  p.  83. 


ARTICLE  XXVII. 


155 


kingdom  of  heaven,  because  we  know  that  "  sons 
of  Belial"  were  found  both  in  Eli's  and  in  [Samuel's 
family,  but  we  doubt  not  that  it  will  be  so  in  an 
incalculably  greater  number  of  cases  than  most 
Christians  have  faith  enough  to  believe;  and  we 
know  not  that  there  is  a  single  instance  either  in 
Scripture,  or  in  the  record  of  Christian  experience, 
where  such  means  have  been  faithfully  and  perse- 
veringly  employed,  and  any  reason  has  been  left  us 
to  fear  that  the  event  has  been  otherwise. 

We  have  now,  however,  what  may  appear  to 
some  a  difficult  task,  to  reconcile  the  language  of 
our  Church  in  her  Catechism,  in  her  Baptismal  ser- 
vice, and  in  the  Article  before  us,  with  the  lives, 
alas !  of  too  many  of  her  professed  members.  It 
has  often  been,  and  it  no  doubt  in  justice  fairly  may 
be  asked,  Whence  comes  it  if  every  individual  mem- 
ber of  the  Church  of  England  b.;  thus  spoken  of 
as  regenerated,  or  born  anew  of  the  Spirit,  so 
many  in  after  life,  evidence  no  signs  of  any  such 
change  having  ever  taken  place  at  all  ?  To  this 
we  reply,  that  although  we  believe  that  our  Church 
speaks  in  the  language  of  Scripture  and  of  truth, 
when  she  thus  identifies  baptism  with  the  "washing 
of  regeneration,"  we  believe  also,  that  she  speaks 
only  in  the  language  of  charity  and  of  hope,  when 


156 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


she  afterwards  trusts  that  every  baptized  member 
of  the  communion  has  fulfilled  the  terms  of  his 
baptismal  covenant,  has  nurtured  the  seed  of  Divine 
grace,  and  as  she  originally  asked  for  him,  has 
"  ever  remained  in  the  number  of  God's  faithful 
and  elect  children."  Precisely  as  in  her  other  sa- 
crament, of  the  Lord's  Supper,  she,  in  the  same 
judgment  of  charity,  assumes  that  her  members 
"  have  duly  received  those  holy  mysteries,"*  and 
in  consequence  assures  them,  that  they  "  are  very 
members  incorporate  in  the  mystical  body  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  heirs  through  hope  of  his  ever- 
lasting kingdom. 

Now  it  is  perfectly  true,  that  although  in  the 
service  of  this  solemn  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  we  speak  thus,  and  assume  thus  without 
the  least  hesitation,  that  "  all  wre"  who  approach 
the  table  of  the  Lord  "  have  duly  received  these 
holy  mysteries,"  yet  that,  with  the  utmost  stretch 
of  Christian  charity,  we  must  still  fear  that  there 
are  many  at  all  times  in  the  Christian  Church, 
who  in  the  language  of  the  29th  Article,  "  do 
carnally  and  visibly  press  with  their  teeth  the 
sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  yet  in 
no  wise  are  they  partakers  of  Christ."    No  en- 

*  Communion  Service. 


ARTICLE  XXVII. 


157 


lightened  Christian,  however,  is  offended  at  the 
discrepance  between  the  language  and  the  fact, 
simply  because  we  know  that  the  Church  is  not 
now  gifted  with  the  power  of  "  discerning  spirits/' 
or  of  reading  the  heart ;  and  therefore  is  not  only 
fully  justified,  but  is  bound  in  Christian  charity 
to  hope  the  best  of  all,  and  of  each  of  her  mem- 
bers. 

This,  indeed,  appears  to  be  the  key  to  the  right 
understanding  of  the  motive  and  intention  of  our 
Church  in  all  her  services.*  It  is  obvious  that  if 
the  Church  have  but  one  set  of  services  for  her 
members,  she  must  so  construct  those  services  as 
to  apply  to  the  case  of  her  real  and  spiritual,  and 
not  her  nominal  members.  Bearing  this  in  view, 
it  is  not  remarkable  that  she  should  act  in  faith 
upon  the  declaration  of  her  God,  that  his  "  pro- 
mises are  to  us  and  to  our  seed,"  and  concluding, 
that  the  parents  and  the  sponsors  of  the  children 
presented   at  the  baptismal  font,  are  themselves 

*  E.  g.,  In  the  rauch-controverted  portion  of  her  Burial  Ser- 
vice, where,  "  in  sure  and  certain  hope  of  the  resurrection  to 
eternal  life,"  firmly  fixed  in  the  hearts  of  her  members,  they  are 
taught  to  offer  their  hearty  thanks  to  God  for  delivering  their 
brethren  out  of  the  misery  of  this  sinful  world, — a  thanksgiving 
which  can  only  be  consistently  offered  in  the  spirit  of  charity  and 
of  hope. 

14 


158 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


among  the  faithful,  devoted,  prayerful,  servants  of 
the  Most  High,  she  is  bound  to  expect  that  the 
infant  will  "  rightly  receive"  Christian  baptism, 
that  God  will  hear  and  answer  petitions  so  scriptur- 
al, so  reasonable,  so  entirely  for  the  honour  and 
glory  of  his  own  great  and  holy  name,  and  that 
the  child  will  "  lead  the  rest  of  his  life  according 
to  this  beginning." 

That  she  is  often   disappointed,  that  in  after 
years  we  are  compelled  to  mourn  over  the  aliena- 
tion from  God,  of  those,  over  whom  as  infants, 
we  have  united  in  the  prayers  and  thanksgivings 
of  the  Church,  only  proves  that  while  our  Church 
is  true  to  her  God,  and  to  his  revealed  Word, 
by  suppressing  nothing  of  all  the  blessings  which 
he  has  promised  to  his  people,  we  parents  are  in 
too  many  cases  untrue  to  the  best  interests  of  our 
children,  and  to  our  own  souls,  by  not  coming  up 
to  the  baptismal  font  with   more  enlarged  and 
scriptural  views  of  these  blessings,  and  that  our 
children  have  not  improved  the  gift  of  God  which 
is  in  them,  but  have  permitted  the  holy  seed  to  re- 
main unwatered  by  the  dews  of  the  Spirit,  for 
which  they  have  neglected  to  ask ;  and  uncultured 
by  the  aid  of  the  great  Husbandman,  whom  they 
have  forborne  to  seek. 


ARTICLE  XXVII. 


159 


We  must  now  pass  on  to  the  important  and 
individual  application  of  this  high  subject.  This, 
then,  brings  us  to  the  great  practical  question  in 
which  all  are  interested,  not  merely  we  who  are 
parents  in  the  welfare  of  our  children,  but  all  in 
the  welfare  of  their  own  souls.  I  address  myself 
then  to  you,  my  brethren,  as  baptized  members  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  say  to  each  individual 
among  you,  your  Church  once  beheld  you  brought 
as  one,  "  by  nature  born  in  sin,  and  the  child  of 
wrath,"  to  the  water  of  baptism,  and  there  having 
offered  her  prayers  that  you  might  undergo  that 
spiritual  change,  without  which,  as  Christ  himself 
has  said,  you  "  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God,"  she  returned  her  thanksgivings  that  you  had 
undergone  this  change,  had  been  born  anew  of 
water  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  made  a  child  of 
God  by  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  and  incorporated 
into  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer.  Now7,  brethren, 
we  require  you  to  ask  yourselves,  honestly  and 
conscientiously,  and  as  in  the  presence  of  Him 
who  seeth  the  heart,  whether  in  your  own  case, 
this  reasonable  belief  of  your  Church  has  been 
fulfilled ;  and  that  you  may  be  enabled  to  answer 
the  inquiry,  remember  the  words  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  himself,  "  That  which  is  born  of  the 


160 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is 
Spirit."  Have  you  then,  like  Samuel  and  like 
Timothy,  been  so  born  of  the  Spirit,  from  your 
earliest  infancy,  that  the  unholy,  and  sinful  plea- 
sures of  the  flesh,  have  possessed  no  hold  upon  you, 
that  you  have  not  indulged  them,  have  not  tole- 
rated them,  have  not  allowed  them,  even  for  a  mo- 
ment, to  gather  strength  by  your  supineness  or 
indifference,  but  have  been  led  to  seek  a  power 
greater  than  your  own  to  repel  and  to  vanquish 
them  ?  And,  further  than  this,  have  you  reason  to 
hope  that  spiritual  things  have  ever  been  your  de- 
light, the  real  element  in  which  your  souls  would 
live,  and  in  which  alone  they  can  breathe  freely 
and  unrestrainedly '?  If  these  things  be  so,  "  happy 
are  ye ;  for  the  Spirit  of  glory  and  of  God  resteth 
upon  you;"  for  then  you  may  indeed  indulge  the 
hope  that  you  have  from  your  earliest  infancy  been 
brought  among  the  spiritual  children  of  the  family 
of  God,  and  educated  for  your  Father's  kingdom. 

But,  perhaps,  such  evidences  as  these  are  want- 
ing. Then  would  we  ask,  have  you  the  distinct, 
yet  equally  satisfactory  and  encouraging  feelings, 
that  whereas  you  once  were  blind,  now  you  see  ; 
that  you  have  been  renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God : 
that  old  things  have  passed  away,  that  all  things 


ARTICLE  XXVII. 


161 


have  become  new ;  and  that  by  God's  own  free 
and  sovereign  grace  you  have  been  brought  out  of 
darkness,  and  misery,  and  sin,  into  the  glorious 
light,  and  liberty,  and  holiness,  of  his  redeemed 
people  ]  That  you,  through  grace,  have  been 
taught  to  deplore  and  to  forsake  the  sins  and  follies 
of  your  youth,  your  once  cherished  lusts  and  un- 
holy passions,  and  are  now  endeavouring,  even 
now,  though  it  be  at  the  eleventh  hour,  to  serve  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  all  holiness  and  godliness  of 
living. 

Or,  again,  are  you  conscious  that  this  testimony 
also  is  absent,  that  spiritual  feelings,  the  faith  and 
penitence,  the  joy  and  hope,  of  the  believer,  are 
still  to  you  as  unknown  and  disregarded  things; 
that  the  world,  and  the  things  of  the  world,  form 
your  home  and  enjoyment :  that  pride  and  vanity, 
sensuality  and  uncharitableness,  or  even  some  of 
the  darker  children  of  the  natural  heart,  are  still, 
as  they  have  ever  been,  the  welcomed  inmates  of 
your  bosom  1  Upon  what  then  do  you  ground 
your  assurance  that  you  are,  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, "  a  member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God,  and 
an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven?"  Upon 
your  baptism  ?  Surely  you  have  not  the  hardihood 
to  avow  such  a  conviction.  As  well  might  Simon 
14* 


162 


DISCOURSE  VII. 


Magus,  who  was  baptized  by  an  Apostle,  have 
contravened  the  decision  of  St.  Peter,  "  I  perceive 
that  thou  art  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  in  the 
bond  of  iniquity,"  by  pointing  to  the  waters  of 
baptism,  as  that  any  baptized  member  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  should  take  comfort  to  himself  while 
in  a  state  of  alienation  from  God,  and  disobedience 
to  his  commands,  and  indifference  to  the  Saviour 
of  the  world,  from  having  once  been  made  the 
subject  of  the  prayers  and  thanksgivings  of  his 
Church.  No,  brethren,  "  by  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them ;"  there  is  no  other  test  here,  there  will 
be  none  other  on  the  great  day  of  account.  Liv- 
ing thus,  and  dying  thus,  it  is  vain,  utterly  vain,  for 
you  to  hope,  when  standing  before  the  bar  of  God, 
that  it  will  avail  you  to  plead  baptismal  regenera- 
tion. Where  are  its  fruits?  what  have  been  its 
effects?  where  is  the  renewed  heart?  "the  death 
unto  sin,"  the  "  new  birth  unto  righteousness,"  the 
love  to  the  Saviour,  which  must  ever  be  features 
in  the  character  of  "  a  member  of  Christ  ?"  where 
the  love  to  God,  which  must  ever  be  the  feeling  of 
"  a  child  of  God  ?"  where  the  meetness  to  be  par- 
taker of  the  worship,  and  the  joys,  and  the  services 
of  the  heavenly  temple,  which  must  ever  mark  14  an 
inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?"    Alas  !  are 


ARTICLE  XXVII. 


163 


all  these  absent,  and  yet  do  you  imagine  that  no 
total  change  of  heart,  and  affections,  and  mind, 
and  life,  in  you  can  be  required  1  Banish  for  ever 
such  a  delusion,  or  it  will  be  your  ruin.  Be  as- 
sured, if  God  be  true,  that  if  you  have  lived,  and 
are  now  living,  in  sin,  if  you  have  entirely  or 
partially  forgotten  God,  and  been  content  to  re- 
ceive the  wages,  and  to  act  as  the  servants  of 
"  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,"  his  bitterest 
enemies,  no  slight  improvement,  no  merely  moral 
reformation,  will  avail  you.  You  may  denominate 
the  change  which  God  requires  of  you,  by  any 
term  ;  you  may  speak  of  it  in  any  language  you 
prefer;  we  will  not  contend  for  names,  but  things: 
a  change,  an  entire  change,  must  be  wrought  in 
you,  or  you  will  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God. 
"  The  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole  heart 
faint,"  even  unto  death,  and  unless  the  whole  head 
be  enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  whole 
heart  renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  spiritual 
death  of  the  present  hour  will  be  inevitably  suc- 
ceeded by  the  eternal  death  of  banishment  from 
God,  and  from  the  presence  of  his  glory.  We  do 
then  most  earnestly  exhort  you,  who  have  never 
yet  thought  seriously  of  your  baptismal  covenant, 
to  read  over  carefully  the  service  of  your  Church 


164  DISCOURSE  VII. 

which  contains  it,  to  examine  yourselves  by  it,  to 
inquire,  before  you  come  to  the  second  sacrament 
of  your  Church,  whether  you  have  ever  been  last- 
ingly benefited  by  the  spiritual  blessings  of  the  first 
sacrament — whether  your  part  of  the  baptismal 
covenant  has  ever  yet  been  performed — whether 
the  devil  and  his  works,  the  world  and  its  vanities, 
the  flesh  and  its  lusts,  have  ever  yet  been  really 
and  conscientiously  renounced — whether,  in  fact, 
you  have  any  sensible  evidence  that  you  have  been 
born  anew  of  the  Spirit ;  and  if  not,  to  be  most 
earnest  in  persevering  prayer  to  God,  that  you 
may  be  a  partaker  of  that  spiritual  renewal,  with- 
out which  the  kingdom  of  heaven  will  be  as  cer- 
tainly, as  effectually,  closed  against  the  baptized 
and  nominal  worshipper  of  God,  as  against  the 
most  dark,  and  obdurate,  and  guilty,  of  the  unbap- 
tized  worshippers  of  wood  and  stone.  For  never 
did  the  God  of  truth  declare  a  more  solemn,  a 
more  awakening  truth  than  this,  "  Except  a  man 
be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God." 


ARTICLE  XXVIII. 


165 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 

1  COR.  X.  16. 

"  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not  the  commu- 
nion of  the  blood  of  Christ  1  the  bread  which  we  break,  is 
it  not  the  communion  of  the  body  of  Christ  V1 

The  Article  which  comes  under  our  present  con- 
sideration, and  which  will  conclude  the  series,  is 
the  Twenty-eighth  Article  of  our  Church,  and 
treats  upon  the  important  subject  of  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

It  will  perhaps  tend  to  the  better  comprehension 
of  the  subject  before  us,  if,  as  while  speaking  of 
the  other  sacrament,  we  shortly  remind  you  of  the 
origin  and  institution  of  this  solemn  rite,  before  we 
proceed  to  comment  upon  our  Church's  exposition 
of  it. 

Nothing  can  be  more  simple,  and  to  an  awakened 
heart,  to  one  who  has  been  taught  to  love  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent,  nothing  can  be 
more  affecting,  than  the  Gospel  narrative  of  the 
institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper.     Hear  it,  then,  in 


166 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


the  plain  yet  beautiful  language  of  Holy  Writ,  and 
may  all  our  hearts  be  warmed  and  elevated  by  the 
views  it  affords  us,  of  the  wisdom  and  loving-kind- 
ness, the  consideration  and  tender  compassion  of 
our  great  High  Priest,  who  first  appointed  it ! 
"And  when  the  even  was  come,"  say  the  evan- 
gelists,* "  Jesus  sat  down  and  the  twelve  Apostles 
with  him.  And  he  said  unto  them,  With  desire  I 
have  desired"  (or  I  have  most  heartily  desired)  "  to 
eat  this  passover  with  you  before  I  suffer :  For  I 
say  unto  you,  T  will  not  any  more  eat  thereof,  until 
it  be  fulfilled  in  the  kingdom  of  God."  This,  then, 
was  the  last  passover  of  which  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  was  to  be  partaker ;  it  was  more  than  this, 
it  was  the  last  Passover  which  God  would  recog- 
nise in  his  Church;  it  was  the  final  rite  of  the  old 
dispensation,  the  death-song  of  Judaism.  All  that 
the  Passover  had  ever  typified,  was  that  night  to 
be  realized ;  the  true  Paschal  Lamb  was  to  be  de- 
livered to  the  slaughterers ;  "  the  blood  of  sprin- 
kling," which  should,  throughout  all  ages,  secure 
the  people  of  God,  by  a  spiritual  deliverance  far 
more  wonderful,  and  far  more  blessed,  than  the 
temporal  deliverance  of  the  first-born  in  Egypt, 
was  on  that  coming  morn  to  be  poured  forth; 

*  Matt.  xxvi.  20.  Luke  xxii.  14. 


ARTICLE  XXVIII. 


167 


when  he,  the  Lamb  of  God,  the  great  propitiation, 
should  close  the  series  of  fourteen  hundred  Pass- 
overs, by  the  sacrifice  of  himself.  Our  Lord  then 
*  heartily  desired"  to  partake  for  the  last  time  of 
this  solemn  rite  with  his  beloved  Apostles ;  he 
"heartily  desired"  that  the  shadow  should  pass 
away,  and  the  great  and  glorious  reality,  which 
should  bring  pardon  and  peace  to  a  ruined  world, 
should  be  consummated :  yes,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  "  he  heartily  desired"  that  coming  meal,  al- 
though a  more  sorrowful  one  he  had  never  been 
partaker  of,  or  one  more  calculated  to  arm  with 
ten-fold  anguish,  the  sufferings  that  awaited  him. 

And  now  his  desire  had  been  fulfilled,  that  even- 
ing meal  was  over,  the  final  Passover  was  con- 
cluded, and  the  Lord  of  Life,  and  his  disciples,  still 
lingered  in  the  supper-room,  delighting  in  that  spi- 
ritual converse  which  made  their  hearts  burn  within 
them,  and  presented  to  them  no  feeble  foretaste,  of 
the  communion  of  the  saints  in  bliss.  The  bread 
and  wine,  always  accompaniments  of  the  Jewish 
Passover,  still  remained  upon  the  table :  when  Je- 
sus, no  doubt  during  some  solemn  pause  in  the  con- 
versation, when  all  minds  were  filled  with  the 
thought  of  those  approaching  sorrows,  of  which 


168 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


our  Lord  had  on  that  evening,  for  the  first  time 
plainly  spoken,  took  up  the  bread,  and  breaking  it, 
and  pouring  forth  his  blessing  upon  it,  delivered  it 
to  his  disciples,  with  these  few,  but  emphatic  words, 
"Take,  eat;  this  is  my  body  which  is  given  for  you; 
this  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  Likewise  also  "  he 
took  the  cup,"  and  blessing  that  in  like  manner,  "he 
gave  it  to  them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it."  And 
he  said  unto  them,  "  This  cup  is  the  new  testament, 
in  my  blood,  which  is  shed  for  you,"*  and  "  for 
many,  for  the  remission  of  sins."f  "  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  I  will  drink  no  more  henceforth  of  this 
fruit  of  the  vine,  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new 
with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom." 

How  simple,  how  touchingly  beautiful  is  the 
whole  of  this  Gospel  narrative.  Our  Lord  well 
knew,  not  only  the  corruption,  but  the  coldness, 
and  ingratitude  of  the  human  heart.  He  knew 
that  years,  nay  centuries  must  pass  away,  and  that 
the  history  of  his  dying  love  should  fall  upon  men's 
ears,  and  on  men's  hearts,  like  a  tale  of  other  times, 
in  which  they  were  little  interested  ;  while  even  to 
the  few,  the  happy  few,  who  should  in  all  ages 
adore  and  venerate  that  Saviour's  name,  there 
would  be  still  the  strong  temptation  to  suffer  their 

*  Luke  xxii.  20.         t  Matt.  xxvi.  28. 


ARTICLE  XXVIM. 


169 


hearts  to  dwell  upon  "  the  things  which  are  seen 
and  are  temporal,"  to  the  frequent  forgetful ness  of 
those,  which  "  are  not  seen  and  are  eternal."  To 
meet,  then,  this  never-ceasing,  never-slumbering 
tendency  of  our  corrupt  and  fallen  nature,  was  no 
doubt  the  primary  intention  of  the  striking  incident 
we  are  considering.    "This  do  in  remembrance  of 
me."    And  mark  how  small  a  thing  it  was  that  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  requested  of  his  followers; 
as  though  he  had  said,  When  in  times  to  come, 
you  assemble  together  in  my  name  and  in  my  wor- 
ship, I  ask  of  you  no  great,  no  costly  sacrifice ;  I 
only  ask  to  live  in  your  memory  and  in  your  love. 
I  only  desire  to  see,  and  to  let  an  unbelieving  world 
see,  that  in  every  generation,  throughout  all  time, 
there  shall  still  be  some  who  will  remember  the 
transactions  of  this  awful  night,  who  will  adore 
and  love  the  despised  Saviour,  and  acknowledge 
him  in  this,  the  lowest  point  of  his  humiliation,  as 
their  Redeemer  and  their  God.     Add.  then,  this 
little  act,  this  slight  memorial  of  all  the  sorrow-  and 
the  anguish  you  will  this  night  witness,  of  all  the 
agonies  of  that  scene,  from  which  to-morrow's  sun 
will  hide  his  face,  add  only  this  slight  memorial 
from  time  to  time,  to  your  accustomed  sacrifice  of 
prayer  and  praise ;  eat  one  piece  of  broken  bread. 
15 


170 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


and  drink  one  drop  of  wine,  in  the  name  of  the 
Crucified.  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me,  at  those 
your  solemn  festivals,  from  this  my  hour  of  suffer- 
ing, until  I  come  again  in  peace  and  receive  you 
unto  myself. 

Who  could  resist  such  an  appeal?  who  dis- 
obey such  a  command? — neglect  so  easy,  so 
merciful  a  request?  It  were  impossible.  More 
than  eighteen  centuries  have  passed  away,  since 
in  that  upper  chamber,  in  some  obscure  house  in 
the  city  of  Jerusalem,  the  words  which  conveyed 
the  request,  were  spoken  by  that  lowly  sufferer  to 
his  broken-hearted  followers ;  and  is  it  too  much  to 
say,  that  "  their  sound  is  gone  out  into  all  lands, 
and  their  words  into  the  ends  of  the  world  ?" 
From  that  night  to  the  present  hour,  all  ranks,  ail 
classes  of  Christian  believers,  have  united  in  fulfill- 
ing this  last  request  of  their  Redeemer.  Kings  have 
descended  from  their  thrones,  and  laid  aside  their 
crowns,  and  for  a  time  forgotten  all  their  earthly  pa- 
geantry, and  knelt  in  reverence  to  the  King  of  kings, 
and  been  partakers  of  his  humble  feast.  High  and 
low,  rich  and  poor,  all  who  name  the  name  of 
Christ,  have  remembered,  and  rejoiced  to  remember, 
his  dying  love,  by  accepting  this  his  dying  invitation. 
Century  after  century  has  passed  away,  the  monu- 
ments of  human  greatness  have  mouldered  into  dust, 


ARTICLE  XXVIII. 


171 


the  laws  inscribed  upon  tablets  of  brass  have  perish- 
ed, dynasties  and  empires  have  risen  and  fallen  and 
are  forgotten,  and  these  few  simple  sentences — this 
short,  affecting  memorial,  has  outlived  them  all — 
never  obliterated,  never  even  suspended ;  no  single 
week,  we  might  perhaps  with  perfect  truth  assert,  no 
single  day,  has  ever  yet  passed  by,  which  did  not 
witness  some  little  assemblage  of  the  followers  of  the 
Redeemer  "doing  this  in  remembrance  of  Him;" 
and  thus,  as  the  Apostle  says,  "  showing  forth  the 
Lord's  death  until  he  comes." 

Can  we  then  wonder,  since  such  was  the  origin 
of  this  holy  service,  that  in  the  primitive  Church  it 
was  partaken  of  every  day  ?  While  the  person  of 
the  Redeemer  was  fresh  in  men's  recollections, 
while  the  transactions  of  that  awful  night  were  vi- 
vidly impressed  upon  their  feelings,  it  is  difficult  to 
conceive  a  single  day  passing  over  them  without 
the  last  accents  of  the  Saviour's  voice,  "  Do  this  in 
remembrance  of  me,"  sounding  in  their  ears. 
While  the  memory  of  that  "  man  of  sorrows,"  toil- 
ing up  the  hill  of  Calvary  bearing  his  cross,  and 
soon  after  stretched  in  unutterable  agonies  upon  it, 
showing  what  he  was  content  to  "do  in  remem- 
brance" of  them,  lived  strongly  upon  their  hearts, 
it  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  a  day  could  have  gone 


172 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


by,  without  their  longing  for  the  hour  at  which  they 
might  commemorate  such  agonies,  such  love,  by 
complying  with  the  last  request  of  their  departed 
Master.  Brethren,  the  wonder  is, — and  if  men's 
hearts  were  what  they  should  be,  such  could  have 
never  been, — the  wonder  is,  that  from  days,  the 
celebration  of  this  service  should  have  been  trans- 
ferred to  weeks,  and  from  weeks  to  months,  and 
from  months  to  some  few  widely-scattered  days  of 
festival,  between  whose  long  and  dreary  intervals, 
the  heart  of  the  recipient  has  ample  time  to  grow 
cold,  and  hard,  and  careless,  to  the  blessings  he  so 
rarely  commemorates.  Until  at  last  this  service  of 
love  is  dropped  aside  like  some  forgotten,  and  un- 
profitable ceremony,  to  be  again  no  more  remem- 
bered. Stay,  did  I  say  no  more  remembered?  I 
greatly  wronged  the  power,  not  of  memory,  but  of 
conscience.  It  is  remembered:  how  awfully  and, 
alas!  usually  how  unprofitably  remembered,  let 
death-beds  tell.  There,  when  the  last  sad  hour  is 
hastening  on,  when  all  is  doubt,  and  uncertainty, 
and  terror — when  every  human  aid  has  been 
sought,  and  yet  all  baffled,  utterly  baffled,  and 
obliged  to  recede  before  the  advancing  step  of 
man's  great  enemy,  there  is  it  well  remembered, 
whi!e  some  such  thoughts  as  these  pass  solemnly 


ARTICLE  XXVIII. 


173 


before  the  mind  :  "  There  was  One  who  died  for 
sinners,  and  in  whose  name  I  also  was  baptized, 
and  to  whose  Church  I  also  nominally  belonged. 
He  was  once  in  circumstances  such  as  I  am  now ; 
and  as  he  stood  upon  the  brink  of  eternity,  he  left 
one  last,  one  small  request,  to  every  individual  who 
should  thereafter  follow  him ;  that  request  I  have 
been  well  acquainted  with  even  from  my  earliest 
years,  have,  month  after  month,  heard  it  reiterated 
by  his  servants,  and  have,  month  after  month,  deli- 
berately turned  my  back  upon  the  opportunity  of- 
fered me  of  fulfilling  it.  Send,  send  quickly  for  a 
minister  of  Christ;  let  me  in  this  last  hour  com- 
pensate for  thirty,  forty,  fifty  years  of  gross  neglect 
and  disobedience  to  Him,  whom  I  shall  soon  see 
face  to  face  !"  Most  wretched  and  miserable  sub- 
stitute, to  offer  the  obedience  of  an  hour,  instead  of 
the  devotedness,  the  affection,  the  holy  acknowledg- 
ments of  a  life. 

Brethren,  from  what  you  have  this  day  seen  of 
the  institution  of  this  blessed  ordinance,  I  leave  it  to 
your  own  reflection  to  answer  the  inquiry — Does 
this  appear  to  you  to  be  in  any  degree  the  intention 
or  the  object  of  the  ordinance — to  lull  the  fears  of  a 
departing  sinner,  to  give  an  anodyne  to  conscience, 
when  for  the  first  time  awakened  to  a  sense  of  sin 
15* 


174 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


and  danger?  No  two  things  were  ever  more  at 
variance,  than  is  the  scriptural,  and  profitable  use 
of  the  holy  Sacrament,  with  this  unscriptural  abuse 
of  it.  It  was  intended  to  commemorate  the  dying 
love  of  the  Redeemer,  by  those  whose  hearts  are 
filled  with  the  consciousness  of  its  unutterable  value  ; 
not  to  propitiate  his  anger,  by  those  who  have  never 
thought  of  him.  or  cared  for  him,  until  they  knew 
that  shortly  they  were  to  be  dragged,  before  his 
judgment-seat.  It  was  intended  to  cheer,  and 
strengthen  the  living,  while  in  the  daily  conflict, 
and  race,  and  struggle  of  this  world's  duties ;  not  to 
pacify  the  dying,  by  speaking  peace,  where  peace 
is  not.  It  was  intended  as  a  feast  of  love,  by  which 
all  Christians,  might  enjoy  spiritual  communion 
with  Christ,  their  living  Head,  and  with  each  other 
as  the  members  of  the  same  body,  and  the  children 
of  the  same  family,  in  anticipation  of  that  far  more 
glorious  feast,  where  the  Lord  shall  be  bodily  pre- 
sent, and  whence  no  child  of  his  shall  be  excluded ; 
but  it  was  not  intended,  for  the  selfish  meal  of  the 
departing  solitary,  who  knows  not,  who  cares  not 
for  Christian  intercourse,  or  for  the  body  of  the 
Lord's  believing  people,  toiling  and  travailing  upon 
earth  ;  who  has  never  held  an  hours  communion 
with  them,  but  who  now  asks  a  hasty  viaticum  for 


ARTICLE  XXVIIi. 


175 


his  last  dread  journey,  lest  his  "  feet  stumble  upon 
the  dark  mountains,"*  and  he  faint  by  the  way. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  Article,  that  we  may  see 
the  intentions  of  this  solemn  ordinance,  as  they  are 
there  expressed,  upon  the  authority  of  our  Church. 

*  XXVIII.    Of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

"  The  Supper  of  the  Lord  is  not  only  a  sign  of 
the  love  that  Christians  ought  to  have  among  them- 
selves, one  to  another.''  Our  Church,  therefore, 
acknowledges  that  it  is  the  sign  of  this  "  Communion 
of  Saints,'*  by  which  they  hold  fellowship  with  each 
other,  and  with  Christ,  their  living  Head,  but  that  it 
is  not  only  this,  "but  rather,''  she  continues.  "  is  a 
sacrament  of  our  redemption  by  Christ's  death ; 
insomuch  that,  to  such  as  rightly,  worthily,  and 
with  faith  receive  the  same,  the  bread  which  we 
break  is  a  partaking  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and 
likewise  the  cup  of  blessing  a  partaking  of  the 
blood  of  Christ." 

This  declaration  is  evidently  founded  upon  the 
words  of  the  text,  "  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we 
bless,  is  it  not  a  communion,"  (or  "  a  communicationf 
to  us,")  of  the  blood  of  Christ ;  the  bread  which 
we  break,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  body  of 
Christ  ?"    By  which  is  clearly  intended  that  great 

*  Jer.  xiii.  16.  +  Archbishop  Seeker. 


176 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


and  mysterious  truth,  elsewhere  asserted  by  our 
Church,  that  "  The  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are 
verily  and  indeed  taken  and  received  by  the  faith- 
ful in  the  Lord's  Supper."* 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  congregation,  to  de- 
monstrate the  difference  between  this  view  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  the  transubstantiation  of 
the  Romish  Church,  or  the  consubstantiation  of 
the  Lutheran  Church ;  that  it  should  ever  have 
been  confounded  with  them,  as  it  has  been  with  the 
latter,  even  in  the  high  places  of  the  land,  is  only  a 
proof,  that  men  of  great  talent,  and  of  great  ac- 
quirement, are,  unhappily,  often  ignorant  of  some 
of  the  very  first  truths  of  Christianity,  and  of  some 
of  the  plainest  and  most  important  doctrines  of 
their  own  Church.  All  that  our  Church  asserts,  is 
simply  this,  that  when  "  received  by  the  faithful,"  and 
"  rightly  received,"  for  you  will  observe  that  she 
limits  all  the  benefits  in  this  case,  as  in  baptism,  to  the 
right  reception  of  the  Sacrament,  there  is  a  strength- 
ening and  refreshing  of  our  souls  by  the  spiritual 
communication  to  us  of  the  body  and  the  blood  of 
Christ,  as  there  is  in  the  common  course  of  nature 
a  strengthening  and  refreshing  of  our  bodies  by 
partaking  of  "  bread  and  wine."    When  we  come 

*  Church  Catechism. 


ARTICLE  XXVIII. 


"77 


to  the  Lord's  table,  in  that  state  of  penitence  and 
faith,  to  which  Christ  has  invited  all  his  people,  and 
to  which,  by  his  good  Spirit,  he  is  daily  and  hourly 
bringing  them,  then,  and  then  only,  do  we  reap  the 
good  of  the  ordinance,  for  then,  and  then  only  are 
we  spiritually  partakers  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
our  Redeemer.  "  Then  we  dwell  in  Christ,  and 
Christ  in  us;  we  are  one  with  Christ,  and  Christ 
with  us;"  we  are  more  than  ever,  closely  united  to 
the  Saviour ;  he  is  formed  in  us  "  the  hope  of 
glory,"*  we  receive  anew,  the  pardon  of  our  sins, 
the  consolation  and  strengthening  of  our  souls,  and 
find  experimentally  that  our  Lord's  own  declara- 
tion is  a  blessed  truth,  "  My  flesh  is  meat  indeed, 
and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed."  Coming  to  the 
celebration  of  this  high  festival,  then,  "  rightly,  wor- 
thily, and  writh  faith,"  our  Church  assures  us  that 
these  good  thing  sshall  not  be  wilhholden  from  any 
individual  amongst  us,  but  are  the  heritage  of  us 
and  of  our  children  for  ever. 

Are  there  any  among  you  who  will  feel  that  this 
one  word  "  worthily"  strikes  at  the  root  of  all  the 
encouragement,  and  destroys  all  the  comfort,  that 
lias  gone  before.  This  is  simply  from  a  miscon- 
ception of  the  requirements  of  that  word :  this  is 

*  Col.  i.  27. 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


from  affixing  a  meaning  to  the  term  "unworthily,"* 
which  the  Apostle,  who  first  made  use  of  it,  never 
did.  Thus  we  find  some  among  you  declaring, 
"  So  long  as  I  am  engaged  in  my  present  occupa- 
tions, I  can  never  worthily  approach  the  table  of 
the  Lord."  Others,  again,  "  So  long  as  I  am  sur- 
rounded by  the  cares  of  a  large  family,  or  by  the  do- 
mestic troubles  to  which  I  am  exposed,  I  should  not 
be  a  welcome  guest !"  Dear  brethren,  there  never 
was  any  thing  more  false,  and  futile,  than  such  ob- 
jections as  these.  Was  the  Saviour,  when  he  spake 
the  words,  "  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me,"  sur- 
rounded by  men  of  leisure,  by  men  unincumbered 
by  worldly  cares,  and  earthly  occupations ;  or  by 
men  who  had  no  domestic  troubles,  no  family 
anxieties  ?  Far  from  it.  Is  not  one  of  the  first 
things  which  we  hear  respecting  the  disciples,  after 
the  resurrection  of  their  Lord,  that  they  returned 
to  their  usual  avocations,  and  were  toiling  all  night 
long  upon  the  sea  of  Galilee  ?+  Are  you  more 
heavily  burdened  with  this  world's  business  now, 
than  they  were  then  ?  Can  you  say  as  they  could 
say,  "Even  unto  this  present  hour,  we  both  hunger, 
and  thirst,  and  are  naked,  and  buffeted,  and  have 


*  1  Cor.  si.  27,  29. 


t  John  xxi.  3. 


ARTICLE  XXVIII.  179 


no  certain  dwelling-place,  and  labour,  working 
with  our  own  hands  ?"  Or,  again,  was  the  Lord 
of  life,  himself  so  entirely  free  from  all  domestic 
anxiety,  when  at  the  very  hour  of  which  we  speak 
he  had  a  widowed  mother,  unprovided  with  a  home, 
who  was  to  occupy  his  thoughts  even  upon  the 
cross,  and  through  whose  soul  the  sufferings  of  her 
only  Son  should  on  that  coming  morning  pierce  as 
with  a  sword  '?*  No  !  never  since  the  hour  when 
this  high  and  holy  solemnity  was  first  imagined, 
have  twelve  men  with  hearts  more  filled  with  sor- 
row, with  anxiety,  with  trouble,  and  with  darkest 
apprehension  of  the  gloomy  future,  met  around  the 
table  of  the  Lord,  than  they  who  then  sat  down  to 
its  first,  and  holiest  celebration.  If  these  then,  be 
your  excuses,  brethren,  learn  that  they  form  most 
excellent  reasons,  for  your  constant  attendance  upon 
this  holy  ordinance,  but  not  a  shadow  of  an  argu- 
ment do  they  furnish  for  staying  away.  If  you 
are  in  trouble,  here  you  may  find  a  solace ;  if  in 
difficulty,  guidance :  if  in  anxiety,  peace.  How 
many  a  full  heart  has  gone  up  to  the  table  of 
the  Lord,  overwhelmed  with  a  burden  which  it 
was  totally  incompetent  to  bear,  and  at  that  table 
has  been  able  to  cast  all,  all  without  exception 

*  See  Luke  ii.  35. 


180 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


and  without  reserve,  upon  the  Lord  of  the  feast, 
and  has  gone  back  again,  comforted  and  rejoicing. 

Much  harm  has  been  done,  by  good  men  upon 
this  subject,  by  holding  out  a  degree  of  worthiness, 
as  essential  to  the  due  reception  of  these  holy  mys- 
teries, which  neither  the  Scripture  nor  the  Church 
has  ever  hinted  at.  All  that  the  Word  of  God 
says  upon  the  necessary  degree  of  preparation,  is 
simply  this:  "Let  a  man  examine  himself,  and  so 
let  him  eat  of  that  bread  and  drink  of  that  cup." 
All  that  the  Church  responds  to  this  is,  let  them 
"  examine  themselves,  whether  they  repent  them 
truly  of  their  former  sins,  steadfastly  purpose  to  lead 
a  new  life,  have  a  lively  faith  in  God's  mercy 
through  Christ,  with  a  thankful  remembrance  of  his 
death,  and  be  in  charity  w7ith  all  men."*  Now  we 
would  ask,  is  there  a  single  word  in  this  statement, 
which  ought  to  act  as  a  prohibition  to  any  indivi- 
dual who  feels  a  real  repentance  for  sin,  a  true  faith 
in  the  Saviour,  and  a  grateful  recollection,  for  all 
the  blessings  treasured  up  for  him  in  Christ  Jesus? 
In  short,  for  any  penitent  and  believing  sinner, 
who  is  desiring  to  live  to  God  here,  and  to  live 
with  God  hereafter?  Is  there  a  word  which 
speaks  of  high  Christian  attainment,  or  deep  Chris- 

*  Church  Catechism. 


/ 


ARTICLE  XXVIII.  181 

tian  experience?  No,  the  Church  evidently  con- 
templated— it  could  contemplate  no  other — that  the 
invitation  should  embrace  every  individual,  among 
her  sincere  members,  from  the  youth  who  yesterday 
completed  his  pupilage  and  was  received  into  full 
communion  with  the  Church  by  "  the  laying  on  of 
hands;"  to  the  aged  soldier  of  Christ,  the  veteran 
in  her  ranks,  who  can  exclaim,  "  I  have  fought  a 
good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have 
kept  the  faith."  All  are  equally  invited,  enjoined, 
expected  to  be  present.  No  individual  can  absent 
himself  without  sin,  nay,  without  a  double  sin,  a 
sin  of  disobedience,  and  a  sin  of  ingratitude. 

In  this  respect,  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  distinc- 
tion between  the  two  Sacraments  of  our  Church, 
both  are  equally  considered  as  "  generally  necessary 
to  salvation  ;"  both  therefore  are  equally  considered 
as  binding,  and  equally  binding  upon  all;  and  it 
would  be  extremely  difficult  to  show  that  the  man 
who  wilfully  absents  himself  from  the  second  Sacra- 
ment, stands  in  any  degree,  in  a  holier  relationship 
to  God,  than  the  man  who  voluntarily  neglects  the 
first.  Yet  who  is  there  among  you  who  would 
deny  your  children  the  blessing  of  Christian  bap- 
tism ?  And  will  you  be  more  cruel  to  your  own 
souls,  than  you  are  to  your  own  flesh  and  blood  I 
16 


182 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


Will  you  deny  them  the  opportunity  of  feeding  by 
faith,  upon  that  which  alone  is  "  meat  indeed,  and 
drink  indeed  ?"  Above  all,  will  you  deny  the  Lord 
of  life,  the  Saviour  who  died  for  you,  his  one  last 
request,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me."  Bre- 
thren, is  there  one  among  you,  who  to  these  in- 
quiries would  venture  to  reply, "  I  will  V?  We  cannot 
believe  that  there  is  an  individual  who  could  thus 
harden  himself  against  his  own  mercies.  As  there 
is  not  one  who  would  thus  speak,  we  pray  that 
there  may  not  be  one  who  would  thus  act  in  open 
defiance  of  the  command  of  his  Redeemer.  These 
considerations,  however,  we  leave  with  yourselves, 
as  long  as  we  are  compelled  to  open  our  doors  at 
the  close  of  the  sermon,  to  give  any  of  those  com- 
mitted to  our  charge  an  opportunity  to  escape 
from  a  service  which  is  their  highest  privilege, 
and  if  they  were  wise,  would  be  their  greatest  plea- 
sure; so  long  shall  we,  God  permitting,  never  cease 
to  sound  in  your  ears,  the  duty,  and  the  privilege, 
you  are  neglecting. 

While  to  you,  and  we  thank  God  for  the  very 
large  and  steadily-increasing  number  of  you,  who 
deiight  to  every  return  of  this  holy,  and  sanctify- 
ing, and  strengthening  ordinance,  and  who  are,  we 
trust,  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  minds,  and  re- 
conciled to  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord ; 


ARTICLE  XXVIII. 


183 


we  would  only  say,  let  nothing  ever  keep  you  vo- 
luntarily from  a  mean  of  grace,  of  which  past  expe- 
rience has  so  fully  proved  to  you  the  excellency 
and  the  power.  Let  every  return  of  it,  not  only 
be  a  pledge  to  you  of  the  Saviour's  love  to  your 
souls,  but  let  it  be  also  a  pledge  to  Him  of  your  in- 
creasing love  to  his  service.  Bear  in  mind,  however, 
that  his  own  Word  has  said,  "  Ye  cannot  drink  the 
cup  of  the  Lord,  and  the  cup  of  devils and  although 
this,  doubtless,  applied  distinctly  to  idolatry,  it  goes 
far  to  prove,  that  by  coming  to  his  table,  you  do  in 
the  most  solemn  manner  avow  vour  allegiance  to 

J  o 

him,  and  proclaim  open,  irreconcileable  hostility  to 
his  enemies,  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil;  that 
you  by  this  act  solemnly  declare  that  you  have 
given  "  yourselves,  your  souls,  and  bodies,"  to  be 
his,  and  his  alone;  that  you  acknowledge  with  the 
Apostle,  that  you  are  not  your  own,  but  his  who 
has  bought  you  with  his  blood. 

Beloved,  think  how  much  is  implied  in  that  ac- 
knowledgment;  what  holiness,  what  purity,  what 
love,  what  self-denial,  what  heavenly-mindedness, 
what  gratitude.  And  while  the  acknowledgment 
of  this  gift  involves,  on  your  part,  such  high  and 
holy  duties,  hear  what  blessed  privileges  it  involves, 
on  his  part,  who  has  vouchsafed  to  receive  the 


184 


DISCOURSE  VIII. 


gift,  and  to  secure  these  privileges  to  yourselves. 
"  Holy  Father,  keep  through  thine  own  name,  those 
whom  thou  hast  given  me,  that  they  may  be  one,  as 
we  are."  "  Father,  I  will,  that  they  also  whom 
thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me,  where  I  am,  that 
they  may  behold  my  glory."  Your  course  then  is 
plain,  it  is  through  the  alone  merits  of  your  Redeem- 
er, from  duties  here,  to  joys  hereafter;  from  the 
Church  militant,  to  the  Church  triumphant ;  from 
the  imperfect  communion  of  sinners  like  yourselves, 
to  the  perfect  communion  of  saints  in  glory ;  from 
the  table  of  your  Lord,  and  his  spiritual  presence, 
upon  earth,  to  the  bridegroom's  feast,  the  Supper  of 
the  Lamb,  the  personal  presence  of  your  Redeemer, 
in  the  kingdom  of  your  Father. 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


185 


DISCOURSE  IX.* 

ON  THE  DUTY  OF  EVERY  CHRISTIAN  GOVERNMENT  TO  PRO- 
VIDE CHRISTIAN  INSTRUCTION,  AND  TO  MAINTAIN  CHRIS 
TIAN  WORSHIP. 

ISAIAH  XLIX.  23. 

"  Kings  shall  be  thy  nursing  fathers,  and  their  Queens  thy 
nursing  mothers." 

And  of  whom  spake  the  Prophet  these  remark- 
able words  1  Of  the  Church  of  the  living  God. 
Not  of  that  Church,  in  the  darkness,  and  helpless- 
ness of  her  infancy,  when  confined  to  the  chosen 
nation  of  the  Jews,  but  of  that  same  Church,  when, 
as  we  learn  from  the  context,  God  should  have 
"  lift  up  his  hand  to  the  Gentiles,  and  set  up  His 
standard  to  the  people  ;"f  when  she  should  have 
broken  forth  on  the  right  hand,  and  on  the  left,  and 

*  This  Discourse  was  written  without  the  slightest  view  to 
publication,  and  is  now  only  appended  to  the  Discourses  on  the 
Articles,  in  deference  to  the  wish  expressed  by  many  members  of 
the  Congregation. 

t  Isaiah  xlix.  22. 

16* 


186 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


possessed  the  gale  of  her  enemy ;  in  fact,  of  the 
Church  of  God,  under  the  Christian  dispensation. 
I  have  therefore  selected  the  passage,  not  with  the 
intention  of  dwelling  upon  the  words,  but  upon  the 
principle,  the  important  principle,  developed  in 
them,  viz.  the  duty  of  a  Christian  Government,  to 
become  the  nursing  father  and  nursing  mother  of 
the  Church  of  the  Redeemer. 

During  such  times  as  the  present,  when  unprece- 
dented efforts  are  making,  for  the  furtherance  of 
some  great  attempt  to  destroy  the  union,  that  has 
so  long  and  so  happily  subsisted  in  this  country,  be- 
tween the  Church  and  State,  I  feel  it  compulsory 
upon  me,  to  depart  from  my  ordinary  subjects  of 
ministration,  to  endeavour  to  furnish  my  hearers 
with  a  few  of  those  many  arguments,  which  may 
legitimately  and  scripturally  be  urged  in  defence  of 
the  Church  Establishment  of  our  country.  You 
will  not,  brethren,  hear  the  observations,  which  I 
am  about  to  offer  you,  with  the  less  attention,  if  I 
tell  you,  that  the  arguments  which  sustain  them, 
will  have  little  of  novelty  to  recommend  them, 
since  I  have  preferred  selecting  those,  which  after 
carefully  considering  the  subject  for  myself,  and 
reading  what  others  have  written  upon  both  sides 
of  the  question,  appear  to  be  the  most  conclusive, 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


187 


and  the  least  assailable.  Neither  will  you  be  in- 
clined to  listen  to  me,  with  less  than  your  usual 
candour,  if  I  remind  you  that  in  the  disputes  which 
have  latterly  agitated,  and  are  at  present  agitating, 
in  so  violent  a  manner,  both  Dissenters  and  Church- 
men, I  have  taken  no  part.  The  subject  has  never 
been,  however  distantly,  alluded  to  from  this  place ; 
first,  because  I  have  always  felt  that  the  plain  and 
simple  topics  of  scriptural  instruction  afford  suffi- 
cient, and  far  more  than  sufficient  occupation  for 
these  brief  and  hallowed  opportunities ;  and  that 
if,  during  the  week,  the  minds  of  men  are  exer- 
cised, as  they  must  ever  be,  in  this  great  metropolis, 
in  the  toils  of  labour,  or  the  vicissitudes  of  trade, 
or  the  anxieties  of  professional  duties,  or  the  con- 
flict of  political  opinions,  the  Sabbath  ought  to  be 
a  day  of  mental  repose,  as  well  as  of  bodily  rest, 
that  no  harassing,  or  irritating  topics,  should  ever 
be  permitted  to  interrupt  its  hallowed  hours ;  and 
that,  above  all,  no  subject,  no  word,  no  thought 
should  cross  the  mind,  while  in  the  House  of  God, 
which  does  not,  as  the  Word  of  God  expresses  it, 
"  make  for  peace ;"  and,  secondly,  Because  my 
hearty  desire  has  always  been,  that  every  conscien- 
tious Dissenter  should  be  exempted  from  all  that 
he  can  honestly,  and  as  in  the  sight  of  Him  who 


188 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


knows  the  heart,  really  consider  a  burden  ;  because 
I  respect  a  conscientious  Dissenter,  as  much  as  a 
conscientious  Churchman  ;  and  because  in  justice 
both  to  Dissenters,  and  to  Wesleyans,  I  am  bound 
to  add,  that  during  the  whole  period,  now  more 
than  ten  years  of  my  ministry  in  this  parish,  I  have 
never  in  a  single  instance  met  with  opposition,  or 
contumely,  or  unkindness  from  them  ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  when  occasionally  brought  into  contact 
with  them,  I  have  received  from  them  that  treat- 
ment which  as  fellow-labourers  in  the  Lord's  vine- 
yard, we  should  expect  from  men  earnestly  and 
faithfully  engaged  in  the  same  work  as  ourselves. 

It  is  unnecessary,  we  hope,  to  add,  that  nothing 
which  shall  be  spoken  on  the  present  occasion, 
shall  be  in  any  degree  at  variance  with  feelings 
such  as  these ;  that  called  upon,  as  I  conceive  my- 
self to  be,  by  the  passing  events  around  us,  to  en- 
deavour to  defend  the  Church,  of  which  I  am  a 
very  humble,  but  attached,  and  devoted  member,  I 
obey  the  call,  with  the  fullest  conviction,  that  "the 
weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal ;"  that 
unless  we  bring  to  the  task,  a  really  charitable 
feeling  towards  those  who  differ  from  us,  and  an 
earnest  desire  to  avoid  all  fierce,  and  angry,  and 
bitter  controversy,  the  God  whom  we  serve  will 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


169 


withhold  His  blessing,  and  we  shall  run  and  labour 
in  vain. 

We  shall  first,  then,  endeavour  to  show  that  a 
Church  Establishment  provided  by  the  State,  and 
in  immediate  connection  with  it,  is  according  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  the  experience  of  antiquity :  and, 
secondly,  That  the  blessings  and  advantages  of  a 
Church  so  constituted,  are  of  a  nature,  and  carried 
forth  to  an  extent,  which  no  Church,  established  on 
any  other  principles,  could  hope  to  emulate. 

It  is  frequently  said,  by  those  who  are  opposed 
to  the  existence  of  a  Church  Establishment,  that  it 
is  unfair  to  derive  any  arguments  in  favour  of  it, 
from  any  thing  antecedent  to  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation. This  objection,  if  it  be  an  honest  one,  and 
such  we  are  willing  to  suppose  it,  must,  we  think, 
arise  from  a  very  limited  and  superficial  view  of 
the  dispensations  of  God.  For,  however  the  frame- 
work may  have  been  changed,  a  true  knowledge 
of  those  dispensations  will  lead  us  to  confess,  that 
the  principles,  the  all-important  principles  involved, 
are  in  every  case  substantially  the  same. 

We  hesitate  not,  then,  to  go  back  even  to  the 
days  of  Abraham,  to  prove  not  merely  the  pro- 
priety, but  the  bounden  duty,  the  imperious  obliga- 


1JU  DISCOURSE  IX. 

tion,  of  every  Government,  to  provide  the  opportu- 
nities of  religious  worship  for  its  people. 

I  need  scarcely  remind  you  that  the  peculiar 
characteristic  of  Abraham,  which  was  selected  by 
God  himself,  for  the  marks  of  His  especial  appro- 
bation, was  this,  '<  Abraham  shall  surely  become  a 
great  and  mighty  nation,  and  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  shall  be  blessed  in  him ;  for,  I  know  him,  that 
he  will  command  his  children  and  his  household 
after  him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the 
Lord  to  do  justice  and  judgment." 

We  find,  that  when  Abraham  first  obeyed  the 
call  of  God,  in  coming  out  of  the  land  of  his  na- 
tivity, accompanied  only  by  Sarai  his  wife,  and  Lot 
his  nephew,  and  the  children  of  Lot's  family,  one 
of  his  first  acts  was  to  establish  the  family  altar, 
and  as  a  family,  to  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
Again,  we  find  that  when,  as  the  inspired  writer 
tells  us,  he  became  "  very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver, 
and  in  gold;"  when  his  trained  servants,  born  in 
his  own  house,  and  capable  of  bearing  arms, 
amounted  to  three  hundred  and  eighteen;  and 
therefore  when  his  whole  retinue,  including  wo- 
men and  children,  could  not  have  been  less,  at  the 
very  lowest  computation,  than  one  thousand  souls, 
that  is,  when  he  had  become  a  Prince,  and  a  Po- 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


191 


tentate,  he  did  that  for  the  many  which  he  had 
before  done  for  the  few ;  he  erected  the  altar,  and 
he  commanded  his  subjects,  as  he  had  before  com- 
manded his  servants,  that  they  should  keep  the  way 
of  the  Lord.  Now  can  we  for  a  moment  suppose, 
that  if  Abraham  had  counted  his  retinue  by  thou- 
sands and  by  millions,  instead  of  by  tens  and  by 
hundreds ;  in  fact,  if  he  had  become  the  head  of 
some  mighty  monarchy,  he  would  have  ceased  to 
do  that  for  which  his  Lord  had  so  graciously,  and 
so  remarkably  commended  him  !  Or,  can  we  ima- 
gine that  God,  who  applauded  the  act  when  con- 
fined to  Abraham's  family,  would  have  condemned 
it  when  extended  to  his  empire  !  Surely  it  is  not 
too  much  to  assert,  that,  if  God  can  look  with  plea- 
sure upon  the  family  altar,  erected  by  him  whom 
He  has  placed  at  the  head  of  the  family,  He  must 
look  with  ten-fold  pleasure  upon  the  national  altar 
erected  at  the  command,  and  maintained  bv  the 
authority  of  him  whom  He  has  Himself  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  nation. 

If  we  pass  on  from  Abraham  to  the  other  Patri- 
archs, and  especially  to  Jacob,  we  shall  see  the 
same  principle  distinctly  recognized.  When  he 
became  great,  and  God  had  blessed  him  abun- 
dantly, or,  in  his  own  language,  when  he  became 


192 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


"  two  bands,"*  we  find  it  recorded  of  him,  that  he 
provided  religious  opportunities  for  his  followers, 
that  he  erected  the  altar  of  God  in  the  midst  of 
them,  with  the  same  regularity  as  he  had  done  for 
himself,  when  at  the  commencement  of  his  career, 
a  poor  and  houseless  wanderer,  "  with  his  staff"f 
alone,  he  passed  over  Jordan. 

We  maintain,  then,  that  in  all  these  cases  there 
was  the  principle  established,  of  those  in  authority 
providing  the  opportunities  of  religious  instruction, 
and  worship,  for  the  people  commmitted  to  their 
charge ;  it  matters  not,  upon  how  small  a  scale  it 
was  exercised,  but  here  was  most  distinctly  the 
principle  recognised,  and  applauded  by  God,  during 
the  whole  of  the  patriarchal  dispensation  ;  for  what 
has  been  proved  respecting  Abraham  and  Jacob, 
may  be  proved  of  all  the  other  patriarchs.  And  if 
it  be  the  acknowledged  duty  of  the  father  thus  to 
provide  religious  iustruction  for  his  children,  the 
master  for  his  household,  the  chief  for  his  followers, 
where  will  you  pause  in  the  series  before  you  arrive 
at  the  summit — the  king  for  his  people? 

You  cannot  stop  short  of  this  conclusion,  unless 
you  are  prepared  to  say,  that  though  as  a  father,  or 
a  master,  you  are  bound  by  certain  responsibilities, 


*  Gen.  xxxii.  10. 


t  Gen.  xxxii.  10. 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


193 


as  a  magistrate,  or  a  legislator,  you  are  absolved 
from  them  :  you  cannot  stop  short,  unless  you  are 
prepared  to  say,  that  in  all  our  natural  relations, 
we  are  bound  to  think  and  act  as  believers,  and  in 
all  our  political  relations,  we  are  bound  to  think 
and  act  as  unbelievers. 

If  from  the  Patriarchal,  we  turn  to  the  Mosaic 
dispensation,  we  find  this  principle  not  merely  re- 
cognised, but  forming  the  very  marrow  and  essence 
of  the  whole,  and  distinctly  appointed  by  God  him- 
self. Indeed  the  Jewish  Church,  establishes  so  unan- 
swerably, the  subject  in  debate,  that  the  only  method 
by  which  it  has  been  ever  attempted  to  be  met,  is. 
by  asserting  that  it  was  a  temporary  and  typical 
dispensation,  and  therefore  cannot  be  fairly  applied 
to  ourselves.  Now  acknowledging,  as  we  most 
unfeignedly  do,  that  it  was  both  a  temporary,  and 
typical  dispensation,  we  also  acknowledge  that  all 
that  was  strictly  Jewish,  and  temporary,  and  typical, 
in  the  Church  Establishment  of  the  Jews,  was  to 
be  done  away,  and  most  unquestionably,  these  have 
been  done  away ;  but  then,  we  contend  that  its 
moral  principles,  and  moral  obligations,  neither 
are,  nor  can  be  abrogated.  We  believe,  that  it  is 
only  by  confounding  two  things,  which  are  perfectly 
separate  and  distinct,  viz.,  the  typical,  with  the  mo- 
17 


194 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


ral  portion  of  the  dispensation,  that  the  false  im- 
pression, conveyed  by  the  enemies  of  a  National 
Church,  can  possibly  stand. 

The  result,  then,  at  which  we  arrive,  from  this 
portion  of  the  subject  before  us,  is  the  following. 
We  would  ask,  is  it  at  all  analogous  with  God's  deal- 
ings with  his  people,  that  a  principle  so  clearly,  and 
plainly  developed,  in  the  Patriarchal,  and  in  the 
Jewish  dispensations,  as  this — that  those  in  civil  au- 
thority should  esteem  it  their  bounden  duty  to  pro- 
vide religious  instruction  and  worship  for  those 
committed  to  their  charge — should  be  utterly  un- 
known in  the  Christian  dispensation  1  Is  there  any 
other  principle,  common  to  the  two  former,  which 
is  excluded  from  the  third  ?  And  is  it  not,  then, 
contrary  to  all  probability  that  the  unchangeable 
Jehovah  should  depart  from  his  own  positive 
arrangements,  when  founded  not  upon  the  tempo- 
rary circumstances  of  a  peculiar  people,  but,  as  in 
this  case,  on  the  immutable  relationship  between 
God  and  man,  and  between  man  and  his  fellows? 
If  we  pass  from  the  Old  Testament  to  the  New, 
we  shall  content  ourselves  with  this  most  power- 
ful negative  argument  in  our  favour,  that  there  is 
nothing  against  an  Establishment  in  the  Gospels  or 
Epistles;  and  to  those  among  you,  who  know  best 


DISCOURSE  IX.  195 

the  method  of  instruction  in  the  New  Testament, 
this  negative  argument  will  have  great  weight.  To 
enter  fully  into  the  force  of  this,  you  must  remem- 
ber, that  it  is  not  made  use  of  to  establish  any  new 
regulation,  or  its  value  might  be  questionable ;  but 
that  it  is  simply  brought  forward  in  proof  of 
the  fact,  that  the  Divine  arrangement,  which  we 
have  seen  pervading  all  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  God  previously  to  the  Christian  dispensation, 
was  to  continue  untouched,  as  to  its  principle, 
during  the  ages  which  were  to  succeed  the  de- 
velopement  of  that  dispensation.  It  is,  in  fact, 
precisely  the  same  kind  of  argument,  and  equally 
strong,  as  that  by  which  we  prove  that  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath  is  a  Divine  institution.  Nothing  is 
actually  declared  in  the  New  Testament,  respecting 
the  establishment  of  religion  by  Government,  or  the 
establishment  of  a  Sabbath.  Both  were  already  in 
existence :  both  had  been  established  long  before :  it 
is  enough,  that  neither  was  abrogated.  Our  Lord 
found  his  hearers,  educated  in  the  strongest  possible 
prepossessions,  in  favour  of  a  national  religion,  there 
was  no  need  therefore  of  enforcing  this  duty.  They, 
in  fact,  knew  nothing  of  a  religion  supported  in  any 
other  manner  than  by  the  State ;  all,  then,  that  ap- 
pears requisite  for  our  Lord  to  have  done  upon  this 


196 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


point  was,  to  leave  his  disciples  as  he  found  them. 
And  is  not  this  precisely  what  He  has  done?  Did 
our  Lord  convey  a  single  hint,  or  did  he  commis- 
sion his  disciples  who  were  to  fill  up  his  outline,  to 
convey  a  single  hint  of  a  contrary  tendency  ?  No  ; 
with  the  exception  of  one  solitary  text,  none  have 
ever  ventured  to  assert  that  he  did.  And  look  only 
for  a  moment  at  this  exception,  and  you  will  see 
its  total  inapplicability  to  the  present  question. 
The  text  to  which  I  allude  is,  as  you  are  doubtless 
aware,  our  Lord's  reply  to  Pilate,  "  My  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world."  When  and  where  was  it  made  1 
Was  it  at  all  in  relation  to  the  Church  ?  Had  it 
any  reference  to  the  establishment  of  his  religion  ? 
Not  the  smallest.  It  was  the  declaration  of  our 
Lord  when  standing  at  the  bar  of  the  Roman 
governor.  He  was  accused  of  forbidding  his 
countrymen  to  pay  tribute  to  Csesar,  and  of  saying 
that  he  was  Christ,  a  King,  and  his  reply  is,  "  My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world ;  if  my  kingdom  were 
of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight  that  I 
should  not  be  delivered  to  the  Jews."  However 
possible,  then,  it  may  be,  by  taking  half  the  sentence, 
to  make  it  appear  to  apply  to  Church  Establish- 
ments, no  unprejudiced  man,  we  apprehend,  could 
read  the  whole,  without   seeing  that  it  applied 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


197 


simply,  and  entirely,  to  the  accusation,  that  our 
Lord  was  endeavouring  to  erect  a  temporal  king- 
dom in  opposition  to  the  power  of  Cassar,  and  to 
establish  this  kingdom  by  the  sword.  So  import- 
ant is  it  not  to  build  an  argument  upon  half  a  pas- 
sage of  Scripture,  but  to  weigh  well  the  whole,  and 
to  examine  well  the  context,  before  we  venture  to 
claim  the  support  of  God's  Word.  There  is  not  in- 
deed a  single  sentence,  from  the  beginning  of  St. 
Matthew,  to  the  end  of  Revelation,  which,  without 
the  grossest  perversion  of  Scripture,  or  the  most  pal- 
pable neglect  of  the  context,  can  be  adduced,  as  an 
argument  against  the  interference  of  the  civil  power, 
in  the  establishing  and  maintaining  a  national  reli- 

<_>  CD 

gion.  Considering  that,  as  we  have  seen,  all  our 
Lord's  first  disciples,  were  nurtured  in  the  preju- 
dices of  a  national  religion,  is  it  probable,  is  it  pos- 
sible, that  this  should  have  been  the  case — that 
these  prejudices  should  have  been  left  untouched,  if 
our  Lord  had  really  been  opposed  to  them  1  Did 
he  ever  act  in  a  similar  manner  with  regard  to  any 
other  subject  ?  Take,  for  instance,  the  ceremonial 
law,  established  by  God  himself,  as  undoubtedly  as 
that  the  interference  of  the  civil  power  with  reli- 
gion was  established  by  God  himself.  For  the 
abolition  of  the  former,  the  most  explicit  declara- 
17* 

■ 


198 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


tions  were  vouchsafed  by  God  to  man ;  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  latter,  not  one  word,  as  we  have  seen, 
has  ever  yet  been  communicated.  What  then  are 
we  to  believe?  What  must  every  unprejudiced 
mind  conclude,  when,  of  two  duties,  equally  en- 
forced, the  former  is  distinctly  abrogated  by  the 
same  voice  which  ordained  it,  and  the  latter  is 
passed  over  in  silence  ?  surely  we  must  confess, 
that  the  latter  principle  remains  unaltered,  unre- 
moved,  unshaken.  "  The  account,  then,  of  scriptural 
injunction,"  as  an  able  writer  of  the  present  day 
has  well  expressed  it,  "  stands  thus — in  favour  of 
Establishments,  much ;  against  Establishments,  no- 
thing."* 

Without  attempting  to  found  the  fundamental 
principle  for  which  we  are  contending,  upon  any 
of  the  single  and  scattered  declarations  of  the  di- 
vine Word,  such  as  the  prophecy  of  the  text  and 
many  others,  powerful  though  they  be  :  we  would 
leave  it  upon  this  simple,  broad,  and  intelligible,  and, 
as  we  believe,  irrefragable  foundation — That  the 
principle  of  a  national  Church  was  encouraged  by 
God  himself  under  the  Patriarchal  dispensation, 
established  by  God  himself  under  the  Jewish  dis- 
pensation, and  left  untouched  by  God  himself  when 
remodelling  that  sacred  Establishment,  under  the 

*  Essay  on  the  Church,  p.  15. 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


]99 


Christian  dispensation.  That  it  is,  in  fact,  founded 
on  those  moral  obligations,  from  which  no  possible 
change  of  circumstances  can  set  us  free,  and  like 
the  divine  institution  of  the  Sabbath,  though  veiled 
for  a  while  under  Jewish  types  and  Jewish  ceremo- 
nies, has  come  down  to  us  stripped  of  these,  and 
yet  retaining  all  the  force  and  obligation,  the  beauty 
and  freshness  of  its  divine  original;  equally  binding 
upon  man  in  his  domestic  character,  in  his  social 
character,  in  his  political  character,  equally  impera- 
tive upon  him  as  a  father  with  his  children,  as  a 
master  with  his  servants,  as  a  king  with  his  sub- 
jects: and  never  to  be  disregarded,  without  infring- 
ing the  laws,  and  contemning  the  authority  of  God 
our  Maker. 

With  regard  to  the  practice  of  antiquity,  it  is 
sufficient  in  a  single  word  to  assert,  what  no  one 
can  deny,  that  with  the  exception  of  the  first  three 
hundred  years  in  the  Church's  history,  when  every 
emperor  was  an  unbeliever,  or  a  persecutor,  or 
both,  and  therefore  when  Christianity  could  not  be 
the  religion  of  the  State,  there  never  was  a  period 
when  the  religion  of  Christ  was  not  fostered  and 
protected  by  the  Government.*  And  that  during 
the  whole,  or  the  greater  part,  of  those  first  three 

*  See  Sermons  on  this  subject  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  and 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dealtry. 


200 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


hundred  years,  miraculous  powers  remained  in  the 
Church,  as  if  to  protect  its  infancy,  until  the  first 
Christian  emperor,  immediately  upon  his  conver- 
sion, should  establish  it  as  the  religion  of  the 
country,  and  throw  over  its  institutions,  the  shield 
of  the  civil  power:  a  duty,  which  was  not  more 
clearly  seen  by  Constantine,  than  it  was  gratefully 
and  unhesitatingly  accepted  by  the  whole  body  of 
the  Christian  Church;  not  a  single  dissentient  voice 
having  ever  been  raised,  not  an  individual  Christian 
foretelling,  or  foreseeing,  that  a  day  could  arrive 
when  the  connexion  between  Church   and  State, 
should  be  called  an  unholy  union,  or  when  good 
men,  of  any  persuasion,  would  unite  to  dissolve 
and  to  destroy  it.    Upon  this  point,  we  will  only 
add  a  single  observation,  that  however  conscien- 
tious Dissenters  may  at  the  present  moment  view 
this  question ;  from  the  beginning,  even  among 
themselves,  it  was  not  so ;  that  in  fact  the  greatest, 
the  holiest  among  their  forefathers,  are  all  found 
ranged  on  the  side  of  an  Establishment,  and  fight- 
ing its  battles.   It  is  sufficient  to  mention  the  names 
of  Owen,  Baxter,  Flavel,  Howe,   Henry,  and 
Doddridge,  in  support  of  the  assertion;  and  to 
show  that  they  were  not  lukewarm  friends  of  that 
cause,  of  which  many  of  their  descendants  are 
the  enemies,  we  will  quote  a  single  passage  of  that 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


201 


most  eminent  non-conformist,  the  truly  wise  and 
pious  Dr.  Owen,  who,  when  preaching  before  the 
long  Parliament,  thus  expressed  himself : — "  Some* 
think  if  you  (the  Parliament)  were  well  settled, 
you  ought  not,  in  any  thing  as  rulers  of  the  nation, 
to  put  forth  your  power  for  the  interest  of  Christ ; 
the  good  Lord  keep  your  hearts  from  that  appre- 
hension !"  "  If  once  it  comes  to  this,  that  you 
shall  say  you  have  nothing  to  do  with  religion,  as 
rulers  of  the  nation,  God  will  quickly  manifest,  that 
he  hath  nothing  to  do  with  you,  as  rulers  of  the 
nation.'?f  A  sentiment  which  we  pray  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  may  keep  constantly  before  the  eyes, 
and  write  upon  the  heart,  of  every  legislator  of  a 
Christian  nation,  who  expects  to  enjoy  the  blessing 
and  favour  of  the  Most  High  upon  his  efforts  for 
the  good  of  the  nation. 

II.  But  we  must  proceed  to  the  second  division 
of  our  subject,  the  peculiar  advantages  of  an 
Established  Church. 

Of  the  blessings,  and  advantages  of  a  Church 

*  Owen's  Works,  vol.  xiv.  p.  415.    Edit.  1826. 

t  Vol.  xv.  p.  499. — Perhaps  Dr.  Adam  Clarke's  well-known 
testimony  in  favour  of  Church  Establishments,  ought  also  to  be 
referred  to.  See  his  note  on  1  Kings  xiii.  33,  which  concludes 
thus: — M  Whatever  the  reader  may  do,  the  writer  thanks  God  for 
the  religious  Establishment  of  his  country.  For  abuses  in  Church 
and  State  he  is  the  last  to  contend." 


202 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


Establishment,  every  individual,  whether  Church- 
man, or  Dissenter,  or  Infidel,  is,  however  he  may 
deny  it,  or  however  he  may  in  truth  be  ignorant  of 
it,  most  unquestionably  a  partaker.  Wherever  a 
church  is  built,  and  an  active  and  godly  minister  is 
appointed,  every  i-ank  and  class  in  the  adjoining  so- 
ciety, and  every  individual  in  that  society,  whether  he 
enter  the  church,  or  whether  he  do  not,  is  in  some  de- 
gree improved  and  benefited.  To  those  who  become 
partakers  of  its  ordinances,  the  benefits  are  suffi- 
ciently obvious.  The  higher  classes,  who,  amidst  the 
refinements  of  luxury,  or  the  allurements  of  intellec- 
tual pride,  might  not  be  willing  to  go  far  out  of  their 
way,  to  hear  the  self-denying  doctrines  of  the  Gospel, 
are  met  by  them  at  their  very  doors ;  and  are  told 
the  truth,  the  plain  and  life-giving  truth,  from  God's 
Word,  with  an  authority  which  nothing  but  the 
official  character  of  a  duly  appointed  minister  of 
God,  and  we  might  also  add,  of  a  parochial  mi- 
nister, necessarily  independent  both  of  their  smile, 
and  of  their  frown,  can  competently  insure.  In 
what  is  termed  the  "  voluntary  system,"  the  minis- 
ter must  be  exposed  to  an  interference  from  his 
congregation,  from  which  the  parochial  minister, 
alone  is  free.  The  importance  of  this,  in  securing 
an  unfettered  ministration  of  the  Word  of  God,  is 
too  obvious  to  require  a  single  observation.  Again 


DISCOURSE  TX. 


203 


ihe  poorer  and  less-informed  classes,  are  brought 
under  the  teaching,  and  hallowing,  and  comforting 
influences  of  the  Divine  precepts  and  promises, 
both  in  public  ministration  and  private  visiting, 
with  a  frequency,  I  may  almost  say,  a  constancy, 
with  which  no  other  institution  can  supply  them  ; 
and  let  me  add,  at  free  cost,  which,  except  in  a 
national  Church,  is,  and  must  be,  almost  unknown. 
We  speak  it  in  no  disparagement  to  other  religious 
bodies,  for  we  love  and  revere  every  order  of 
Christians,  who  "  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
sincerity ;"  but  we  state  it  merely  as  a  fact  which 
the  very  constitution  of  their  order  requires,  that 
even  the  poor,  who  attend  their  places  of  worship, 
are  expected  (we  do  not  say  compelled,  but  expect- 
ed) to  contribute,  and,  as  is  wTell  known,  do,  in  the 
aggregate,  contribute  largely  to  the  maintenance  of 
their  ministers.  Now  what  is  the  case  in  the  Es- 
tablishment ?  There,  and  there  alone,  can  it  be 
said,  that  "The  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to 
them,"  "  without  money  and  without  price/'  Look 
at  the  ten  thousand  parish  churches  scattered  over 
the  face  of  the  country,  and  we  refer  to  the  country, 
because,  however  the  "  voluntary  system"  of  Dis- 
sent may  thrive  in  the  large  and  wealthy  towns,  it 
has.  even  to  the  present  hour,  been  literally  unable 
to  obtain  the  smallest  footing  in  many  of  our  re- 


204 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


mote  villages,  from  the  absolute  incapacity  of  their 
poor  inhabitants  to  contribute  any  thing  to  its  sup- 
port— we  say  then,  look  at  the  numerous  parish 
churches  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  country, 
scarcely  a  village  from  among  whose  trees  you 
do  not  behold  that  beautiful  and  heart-cheering 
sight,  the  village  spire.  See  these  churches,  as 
many  of  you,  no  doubt,  have  rejoiced  to  see  them, 
filled  on  the  Lord's  day  with  agricultural  labourers 
of  the  poorest  description ;  who  have  been  trained 
in  the  Sunday-school,  instructed  privately,  as  well 
as  publicly,  and  prepared  carefully  by  their  resident 
minister,  for  Confirmation  and  for  the  Sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper ;  and  who,  during  their  whole  lives, 
remain  under  his  plain,  and  affectionate  instruction, 
seated  on  the  same  benches  on  which  their  fathers, 
and  their  grandfathers  have  sat,  and  heard  the  word 
of  life ;  and  yet,  with  the  exception  of  the  trifling  fees 
for  the  occasional  offices  of  the  church,  which  occur 
but  rarely,  in  the  life  of  any  individual,  not  one  far- 
thing have  the  occupants  of  those  benches,  from  ge- 
neration to  generation,  ever  contributed,  or  been  ex- 
pected to  contribute,  towards  the  maintenance  of  the 
church,  or  the  support  of  the  minister.  What  but  a 
national  Establishment,  could  ever  have  the  power, 
however  it  might  possess  the  will,  to  make  such  an 
abundant  provision  upon  such  easy  terms? 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


205 


We  have  said  that  those  without,  as  well  as 
those  within  the  pale,  are  benefited  by  our  Church 
Establishment.  Observe  only  the  effect  of  a  single 
church  thus  planted  in  the  midst  of  a  moral  and  a 
spiritual  wilderness,  and  surely  you  will  not  doubt 
it.  Take,  for  instance,  any  of  those  churches 
which  have  been  lately  built  at  the  sole  charge  of 
the  nation,  and  which,  although  situated  in  the 
midst  of  a  dense,  and  ignorant  population,  would 
seldom,  we  may  confidently  assert,  have  been 
erected,  had  they  waited  for  the  expression  of 
their  necessity,  from  those  who  stood  the  most  in 
need  of  them.  For,  as  has  been  unanswerably 
demonstrated,*  religious  instruction,  is  the  great 
exception  to  that  general  rule,  which  regulates 
the  supply  by  the  demand.  In  other  cases,  it 
may  be  true ;  in  religion,  it  is  unquestionably 
false ;  there  is  no  demand  until  long  after  the 
supply  has  been  brought:  there  is  no  feeling  of 
our  need,  until  that  feeling  has  been  originated 
by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  those  very  means 
by  which  it  is  afterwards  to  be  supplied.  Take 
then,  we  say,  for  instance,  any  one  of  the  churches 
lately  built  by  Government,  and  look  only  at  the 
effect  produced  upon  those  who  never  enter  it, 

*  By  Dr.  Chalmers. 
18 


206 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


upon  "  them  that  are  without.''*  Do  they  derive 
nothing  from  its  charities,  nothing  from  its  influ- 
ence, nothing  of  increased  security,  to  their  proper- 
ties and  their  persons,  from  a  more  scripturally 
enlightened,  and  therefore  a  better  conducted  po- 
pulation growing  up  around  them?  Nothing  of 
improvement  among  their  dependents,  from  the 
spread  of  that  moral  influence,  or  that  intellectual 
cultivation  which  thrives  under  its  widely-spreading 
branches  ?  Surely,  taking  it,  and  I  have  intention- 
ally so  taken  it,  upon  the  lowest  grounds  that  the 
merest  worldling  could  desire,  it  is  impossible  not 
to  concede  the  fact,  that  every  parish  church,  i.  e., 
every  church  which  insures  the  Sunday  and  the 
week-day  ministrations,  of  an  appointed  minister, 
to  an  appointed  people,  is  a  blessing,  a  peculiar 
blessing,  both  to  those  who  are  brought  into  imme- 
diate contact,  with  its  ordinances,  and  to  those  who 
dwell  in  its  vicinity. 

In  conclusion,  we  would  only  add,  that  if  our 
Church  Establishment  be  thus,  as  we  believe  it  is, 
a  blessing  to  all,  whether  they  are  indifferent  to  it, 
or  dissent  from  it,  or  are  opposed  to  it,  of  how 
much  greater  blessing  is  it,  under  God,  to  those 
who  are  "  the  lively  members"  of  its  blessed  insti- 
tutions, who  partake  of  its  scriptural  services,  and 
*  Col.  iv.  5. 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


207 


who  profit  by  its  imperfect,  but  scriptural,  and 
faithful  ministrations. 

Brethren,  if  you  really  love  the  great  and  glori- 
fied Head  of  the  Church,  you  will  love  the  Church 
which  He  has  purchased  with  his  blood ;  and  as 
one  of  the  purest,  and  most  efficient  branches  of  it, 
you  will  love,  and  venerate,  and  unceasingly  pray 
for  the  Established  Church  of  your  native  country. 
You  will  draw  the  closer  to  her  in  this,  which,  if 
dark  clouds  foretell  the  tempest,  may  soon  be  her 
hour  of  need.  You  will  uphold  her  religious  insti- 
tutions, you  will  maintain  her  union  with  the  State, 
you  will  stand  by  her  most  scriptural  character- 
istics, her  apostolical  episcopacy,  and  her  episco- 
pally  ordained  ministry — you  will  support  her  best, 
her  truest,  her  spiritual  interests.  You  will  love 
her  too  well  to  cling  to  her  abuses,  which  it  is  the 
mark  of  a  true  affection  to  be  the  first  to  deplore, 
and,  as  far  as  in  you  lies,  the  first  to  remedy.  You 
will,  therefore,  stand  as  far  aloof  from  those  who 
would  alter,  and  improve  nothing,  as  from  those 
who  would  rush  in,  with  bold  and  desperate  foot, 
"where  angels  fear  to  tread."  You  will  love  her, 
not  as  a  mere  political  engine,  but  as  the  handmaid 
of  the  Lord,  because  she  has  for  centuries  ho- 
noured Him,  whom  it  is  the  dearest  desire  of  your 
heart  to  honour ;  finally,  you  will  love  her,  be- 


208 


DISCOURSE  IX. 


cause,  within  her  walls,  you  have  first  learnt  "  the 
way  to  Zion;"  because,  from  her  pulpits,  you  have 
found  guidance,  and  instruction,  and  encourage- 
ment, and  peace.  She  has  been  your  spiritual 
parent,  nurse,  and  counsellor ;  and  you  will  in  re- 
turn, be  her  faithful  children,  her  uncompromising 
supporters,  her  enlightened,  and  prayerful,  and 
steady  friends.  You  will  say  of  her,  the  Church  of 
God,  as  David  said  of  old  of  the  city  of  God,  "  If 
I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget 
her  cunning.  If  I  do  not  remember  thee,"*  in  thy 
trouble  to  help  thee,  in  thy  dangers  to  assist  thee, 
in  thy  difficulties  to  pray  for  thee,  "  let  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth ;  yea,  if  I  prefer 
not  Jerusalem  above  my  chief  joy."f  And  you 
will,  if  you  are  the  true,  and  consistent  members 
of  such  a  Church,  pass  from  the  worship  of  her 
courts  belowT  to  that  blessed  place,  of  which  the 
Apostle  declared,  "  I  saw  no  temple  there,  for  God 
Almighty,  and  the  Lamb,  are  the  temple  of  it:  And 
the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the 
moon  to  shine  in  it,  for  the  glory  of  God  did  lighten 
it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof.";); 

*  Psalm  cxxxvii.  5.  t  Psalm  cxxxvii.  6. 

t  Rev.  xxi.  22,  23. 


LECTURES 

ON  THE 

HISTORY  OF  SAINT  PETER. 


LECTURES. 


LECTURE  I. 

LUKE  V.  8. 

"When  Simon  Peter  saw  it,  he  fell  down  at  Jesus'  knees, 
saying,  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord." 

Having  found,  upon  a  former  occasion,  that  the 
biography  of  one,  eminent  in  the  writings  of  the 
Old  Testament,  offered  many  valuable  lessons,  both 
to  the  Christian  minister  and  the  Christian  hearer, 
it  is  my  intention,  during  the  present  season  of 
Lent,  to  bring  before  you  some  of  the  remarkable 
passages  in  the  life  of  one  of  the  great  and  good 
men  under  the  New  Testament  dispensation. 

The  individual,  whose  history  I  have  selected  for 
this  purpose,  is  Simon  Peter — of  whom  it  is  not  too 
much  to  assert,  that,  after  our  blessed  Lord  himself, 
there  is  no  one  for  whom  a  stronger  prepossession 
is  excited  in  our  bosoms,  no  one  with  whom  we 
more  early  sympathize,  or,  in  the  affecting  inci- 


212 


LECTURE  I. 


dents  of  whose  eventful  history,  we  take  a  more 
lasting  interest. 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  endeavour,  I  shall  con- 
fine myself  to  some  of  the  most  striking  incidents 
in  the  life  of  Peter,  narrated  in  the  Gospels,  the 
length  of  the  present  season  not  being  sufficient  to 
admit  of  our  embracing  the  whole  of  the  instructive 
details  of  his  eventful  biography  contained  in  the 
Scriptures. 

May  the  divine  grace  so  co-operate  with  the  im- 
perfect attempt,  as  to  render  it  instrumental,  through 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  to  the  impart- 
ing to  us  some  portion  of  that  fervent  love  to  the 
person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  zealous  attach- 
ment to  his  service,  that  implicit  obedience  to  his 
commands,  which  so  remarkably  characterized  this 
distinguished  apostle ! 

Of  the  early  history  of  Simon  Peter,  nothing  has 
been  handed  down  to  us  by  the  pen  of  inspiration : 
the  earliest  record  which  is  given  of  him  in  the  word 
of  God,  is  contained  in  the  first  chapter  of  St.  John's 
Gospel. 

From  the  period  when  John  the  Baptist  became 
acquainted  with  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  at  the 
waters  of  Jordan,  he  preached  him  as  "  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life,"  to  his  own  disciples.  Among 


LECTURE  I. 


213 


these  disciples  of  the  Baptist,  was  Andrew,  Simon 
Peter's  brother,  the  first  who,  directed  by  the  testi- 
mony of  John,  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of  the 
Messiah.  No  sooner  had  he  seen  and  conversed 
with  Jesus,  than,  as  we  find  in  the  forty-first  verse 
of  the  chapter  to  which  we  have  already  alluded, 
Andrew,  naturally  anxious  to  dispense  to  those  he 
loved,  something  of  the  gratitude  and  joy  with 
which  his  own  heart  was  overflowing,  "  first  find- 
eth  his  own  brother  Simon,  and  saith  unto  him,  We 
have  found  the  Messias ;  and  he  brought  him  to 
Jesus." 

Here  then  is  the  commencement  of  the  scriptural 
biography  of  Peter — the  hour  in  which  he  is  carried, 
by  the  active  exertions  of  a  brother's  love,  to  the 
feet  of  the  Redeemer.  All  that  preceded  this  im- 
portant event,  is  considered  by  the  inspired  historian 
as  undeserving  of  a  single  word.  Let  others  teh1  of 
the  early  genius  and  precocious  talents  of  those  whose 
history  they  narrate:  to  the  Evangelist,  the  point 
alone  from  which  the  narrative  becomes  worthy  of 
his  pen,  is  the  hour  which  beholds  the  subject  of 
his  history  brought  to  an  acquaintance  with  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  What  a  lesson  is  this  to  us, 
my  Christian  brethren ! 

That  portion  of  our  lives  which  we,  perhaps,  are 


214 


LECTURE  I. 


apt  to  dwell  upon  with  the  greatest  delight,  the 
pleasures  and  follies  of  our  youth,  the  exploits  of 
our  manhood,  the  unsanctified  pursuits  in  which  so 
many  of  our  later  years  have  been  wasted,  form  in 
the  sight  of  the  saints  and  angels,  no  portion  of 
our  history.  They  recognise  us  only  from  the  time, 
that  "  being  made  one  with  Christ,  and  Christ  with 
us,"  we  commence  a  new  life  unto  the  Lord  ;  and 
having  become  members  of  his  blessed  family,  we 
become  objects  of  the  deepest  interest  and  the  ten- 
derest  anxiety  even  to  the  inhabitants  of  heaven. 
They  reckon  our  years  not  from  the  day  we  were 
born,  but  from  the  time  we  were  "  born  again,"  and 
made  heirs  of  the  kingdom  ;  of  all  prior  to  that 
event,  the  best  which  we  can  hope  and  ask  at  the 
hands  of  God  is,  that  it  may  be  blotted  out  of  the 
book  of  his  remembrance;  that  it  may  be  cast  into 
the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  never  be  permitted  to  rise 
up  against  us  to  shame  us  in  this  world,  or  to  con- 
demn us  in  that  which  is  to  come.  But,  my  bre- 
thren, while  the  real  Christian  believes,  and  rejoices 
to  believe  this,  how  does  it  affect  the  man  of  the 
world?  Do  I  not  address  some,  and  perhaps  even 
of  those  advanced  in  life,  who,  in  this  view,  are  but 
as  infants  ?  Do  1  address  any  who  have  lived  three- 
score years  and  ten,  and  whose  spiritual  life  has  not 


LECTURE  I. 


215 


even  now  commenced  ?  Surely  here  is  deep  cause 
for  earnest,  solemn  reflection,  for  fervent  and  heart- 
felt prayer  :  fifty,  sixty,  seventy  years  thrown  away 
upon  a  worthless  and  unsatisfying  world — not  a 
year,  not  a  day,  not  an  hour,  really  given  to  God. 
You  were  born  a  stranger  to  him,  and  you  are  a 
stranger  still.  The  day  of  reckoning  is  at  your 
doors,  and  you  have  nothing  ready  for  the  account. 
Would  to  God  that  this  might  be  the  resolution  of 
your  hearts  to-day  : — "  the  time  past  of  my  life  shall 
suffice  to  have  wrought  the  will  of  the  Gentiles ;" 
henceforth  I  will  resolve,  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord, 
to  begin  in  earnest  to  live  to  God.  Let  your  spiri- 
tual history  now  commence,  if  you  have  never  yet 
been  made  acquainted  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
never  yet  been  brought  into  the  blessed  relationship 
of  his  family ;  M  to-day,  while  it  is  called  to-day, 
harden  not  your  hearts;"  earnestly  seek  that  spirit 
of  adoption  whereby  you  can  alone  be  enabled  to 
begin,  in  the  children's  language,  "  to  cry  Abba, 
Father,"  and  in  the  children's  spirit,  to  look  for  the 
children's  home. 

While  commencing  the  spiritual  history  of  Peter, 
we  cannot  but  remark  the  pleasing  circumstance, 
that  it  was  his  own  brother  Andrew,  who  first  led 
him  to  his  Lord  and  Saviour.    If  it  be  true,  (and 


216 


LECTURE  I. 


who  will  venture  to  deny  it  ?)  that  the  enjoyment  of 
the  social  affections  is  the  highest  temporal  gratifi- 
cation, and  the  interchange  of  the  kindly  offices  of 
love  the  most  beloved  occupation  here  below — 
then  how  nearly  do  these  approach  to  the  delights 
of  a  holier  state  of  existence,  and  the  occupations 
of  a  higher  order  of  intelligences,  when  they  are 
purified  by  the  love  of  God,  and  consecrated  to  the 
cross  of  Christ !  If  it  be  interesting  to  the  parent  to 
mark  the  first  opening  efforts  of  the  infant  mind, 
and  to  trace  the  first  springs  of  thought  in  the  in- 
fant breast,  how  much  more  delightful  is  it  to  be 
made  instrumental  in  sowing  the  first  seeds  of  spi- 
ritual knowledge  and  in  teaching  the  first  lessons  of 
spiritual  love !   To  behold  the  little  countenances  of 
our  dear  children  lighted  up,  and  their  eyes  sparkling 
with  intelligence,  while  listening  to  a  theme  which 
angels  themselves  desire  to  look  into;  and  to  feel, 
while  thus  engaged,  that  we  are  opening  up  in  their 
young  hearts  sources  of  future  peace  and  joy,  over 
which  the  present  changeful  state  of  things  shall 
exercise  no  control,  but  which  shall  continue  to  flow 
on,  when  time  itself  has  ceased  to  flow.    If  there 
be  anything  which  can  increase  those  natural  feel- 
ings of  love  that  exist  between  the  husband  and  the 
wife,  the  parent  and  the  child,  the  brother  and  the 


LECTURE  I. 


217 


sister,  surely  it  is  the  being  thus  made  the  blessed 
instruments  in  the  hand  of  God,  in  bringing  these 
near  and  dear  connexions  within  the  still  closer 
bonds  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

Deeply  does  the  Christian  feel  for  those  who  can- 
not sympathise  with  him  here  ;  deeply  does  he  pity 
those  to  whom  such  blessings  are  unknown  :  even  in 
this  world  there  is  no  other  real  security  for  the 
strongest  ties,  for  there  is  no  such  love  as  this  en- 
genders. The  relationship  between  the  spiritual 
father  and  his  spiritual  children,  is  the  closest,  dear- 
est, most  enduring,  that  can  be  found  on  earth  ;  and 
when  this  is  superadded  to  the  ties  of  natural  affec- 
tion, when  the  several  members  of  a  Christian  family 
are  thus  "  knit  together  in  love"  in  Christ  Jesus, 
then  it  is,  that  family  union  assumes  almost  a  hea- 
venly character,  and  those  who  are  bound  by  its 
sweet  influences  here  will  not  be  separated  through- 
out eternity. 

We  have  now  beheld  Simon  Peter,  by  the  affec- 
tionate efforts  of  his  own  brother  Andrew,  brought 
to  an  acquaintance  with  the  Messiah  ;  but  it  does 
not  appear,  that  from  this  hour  he  became  one  of 
his  constant  attendants,  or  that  this  was  the  period 
when  he  entirely  devoted  himself,  heart  and  soul, 
to  the  labours  of  the  Apostleship.  We  find  that  for 
19 


218 


LECTURE  I. 


a  little  period,  he  returned  to  the  usual  avocations 
of  a  fisher's  life,  to  his  boats  and  to  his  nets ;  and 
although,  doubtless,  not  forgetful  of  the  high  privi- 
lege he  had  once  enjoyed,  yet  obviously  requiring 
a  more  distinct  and  decisive  command  from  the 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  before  he  became  sensi- 
ble of  the  glorious  destiny  which  awaited  him.  The 
circumstances  under  which  this  command  was 
vouchsafed,  are  related  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  St. 
Luke's  Gospel,  where  we  read  that  our  Lord  having, 
upon  the  lake  of  Gennesaret,  taught  the  people  out 
of  Simon  Peter's  ship,  desired  him  to  launch  out 
into  the  deep,  and  to  let  down  his  nets  for  a  draught. 
No  sooner  had  this  injunction  been  complied  with, 
than  so  vast  a  multitude  of  fishes  were  taken,  that 
"  the  nets  brake  and  the  vessels  themselves  began  to 
sink."  Then  it  was  that  Peter,  enlightened  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God,  began  really  to  discover  the 
divine  nature,  and  to  be  convinced  of  the  super- 
natural power  of  Him  whom  he  had  already  ac- 
knowledged as  the  Messiah  of  God ;  and  the 
immediate  consequence  was  that  recorded  in  the 
text,  "  he  fell  down  at  Jesus'  knees,  saying,  Depart 
from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord !" 

Behold  the  remarkable  effect  of  a  single  un- 
clouded view  of  the  incarnate  Deity !  An  over- 


LECTURE  I. 


219 


whelming  sense  of  the  greatness  of  the  Saviour, 
and  of  the  nothingness,  and  less  than  nothingness, 
of  his  sinful  creatures.  How  uniformly  has  this 
been  the  result,  in  all  ages,  of  a  clear  and  visible 
manifestation  to  fallen  man  of  the  second  person  of 
the  ever-blessed  Trinity.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  the 
holy  and  devoted  Job,  after  he  had  beheld  that  glo- 
rious vision  of  the  eternal  God,  which  he  describes, 
we  see  him  humbled  in  the  dust,  we  hear  him  saying, 
in  the  voice  of  the  deepest  penitence  and  self-abhor- 
rence, "  I  have  heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear, 
but  now  mine  eye  seeth  thee,  wherefore  I  abhor  my- 
self, and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes."  Thus  was  it  also 
with  Isaiah,  when  he  beheld  the  Lord  sitting  upon  his 
throne,  and  surrounded  by  the  glorious  seraphim  : 
"  Then  said  I,  Wo  is  me,  for  1  am  undone,  because 
I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen 
the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts."  Thus  is  it,  even  at 
the  present  moment,  with  ourselves;  never  are  the 
power  and  the  perfections  of  the  Saviour  truly 
brought  home  to  the  heart,  without  being  accom- 
panied by  a  self  accusing,  self-condemning  know- 
ledge of  our  own  souls.  The  first  language  of  the 
convicted  sinner  is,  "  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a 
sinful  man,  0  Lord  P  Not  that  he  really  desires 
the  departure  of  his  Saviour,  but  that  he  is  so  over- 


220 


LECTURE  I. 


whelmed  with  a  sense  of  the  power  and  the  purity 
of  Christ,  and  with  the  guilt  and  weakness  of  him- 
self, that  he  cannot  but  acknowledge  that  he  is  "  not 
worthy  that  the  Saviour  should  come  under  his 
roof/'  or  take  up  his  promised  abode  within  his 
bosom. 

We  say  that  this  is  still  the  invariable  effect  of  a 
real  manifestation  of  the  Saviour  to  the  hearts  of 
his  fallen  creatures.  It  is  true,  you  may  have 
heard,  read,  and  spoken  of  Christ  from  your  very 
infancy,  and  no  such  effect  have  been  produced; 
but  this  will  not  disprove  our  assertion,  because 
you  may  have  heard  and  read,  and  spoken  of 
Him,  and,  alas !  know  him  not.  But  the  moment 
you  do  know  him,  the  moment  he  fulfils  to  you  his 
gracious  promise  of  manifesting*  himself  to  his 
people  as  he  does  not  to  the  world ;  the  moment 
you  are  enabled  by  the  divine  Spirit  really  to  see 
"  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,"f 
you  will  find  that  the  declaration  of  Peter  is  the 
only  appropriate  language  of  your  heart,  "  I  am  a 
sinful  man,  O  Lord  !" 

Is  not  this,  my  Christian  brethren,  the  first  feel- 
ing of  the  convicted  conscience  ?  are  not  these  the 
first  utterings  of  the  awakened  heart?    We  do  not 

*  See  John  xiv.  21,  22.  t  2  Cor.  iv.  6. 


LECTURE  L 


221 


hesitate  to  say,  that  the  divine  Spirit  never,  in  any 
single  instance,  really  reveals  a  saving  knowledge 
of  Christ,  without  at  the  same  time  thus  convincing 
of  sin.  The  depth  of  this  feeling,  the  intensity  of 
its  anguish,  the  length  of  its  duration,  will  vary 
in  almost  every  different  instance,  for  it  is  a  fatal, 
though  common  mistake,  to  imagine  that  upon  this 
point  the  experience  of  one  believer  forms  a  model 
or  a  measure  for  another.  In  some  the  soul  is  per- 
mitted to  be  long  bowed  down  by  a  sense  of  sin ; 
and  days  of  sorrow  and  nights  of  watchfulness  are 
wearily  endured  before  peace  is  applied,  and  the 
Comforter  fulfils  his  blessed  office:  in  others,  the 
conviction  is  so  closely  followed  by  the  reception 
of  the  Saviour's  promises,  or  rather,  so  identified 
with  it,  that  there  is  nothing  known  of  the  deeper 
pangs  and  acuter  agonies  of  a  guilty  conscience ; 
but,  be  assured  of  this,  that  in  all,  yes,  in  every 
imaginable  case — in  the  case  of  the  most  moral, 
the  most  virtuous,  the  most  lovely — the  plague  of 
an  evil  heart  must  be  acknowledged;  sin  must  be 
felt,  must  be  deplored,  must  be  confessed  before 
God,  or  the  great  work  is  undone,  the  Saviour  is 
not  clearly  seen,  the  reconciliation  to  God  is  not 
effected. 

My  brethren,  I  would  beseech  you  to  apply  this 
19* 


222 


LECTURE  I. 


to  your  own  souls.  Have  you  ever  enjoyed,  do 
you  now  enjoy,  such  a  sight  of  your  Redeemer,  by 
the  eye  of  faith,  as  compels  you  to  confess  your 
sinfulness,  and  to  cry  for  pardon ;  to  acknowledge 
from  your  heart  "  that  you  have  left  undone  those 
things  which  you  ought  to  have  done,  and  you 
have  done  those  things  which  you  ought  not  to 
have  done,  and  there  is  no  health  in  you  V  If  this 
has  never  yet  been  the  language  of  your  soul,  be 
assured  that  you  have  not  seen  him,  neither  known 
him.  "  You  may  have  heard  of  him  by  the  hear- 
ing of  the  ear,"  but  you  cannot  say,  "Now  mine 
eye  seeth  thee."  O!  seek  unceasingly  for  this 
spiritual  vision ;  pray  that  you  may  be  able  to  say, 
"  Whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see."  It  is  the  sight 
of  Jesus  which  (speaking  not  from  the  experience 
of  an  individual,  but  from  the  testimony  of  all  ages 
of  the  church  of  Christ)  alone  possesses  a  convert- 
ing efficacy  here — it  is  the  same  blissful  sight 
which  shall  alone  possess  a  transforming  efficacy 
hereafter ;  for  mark  the  testimony  of  inspiration  it- 
self to  this  important  truth :  "  Now  we  are  the 
sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be ;  but  we  know  that  when  he  shall  appear, 
we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as 
he  is." 


LECTURE  I. 


223 


No  sooner  had  Peter  made  the  confession  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking,  than  we  read  that 
Jesus  said  unto  him,  "Simon,  fear  not,  from  hence- 
forth thou  shalt  catch  men :  And  when  they  had 
brought  their  ships  to  land,  they  forsook  all,  and 
followed  him."' 

Observe  in  these  words  the  two-fold  lesson  they 
impart ;  the  tenderness  of  the  Saviour — "  Fear 
not;"  the  obedience  of  the  new  disciple — "He 
forsook  all,  and  followed  Jesus."  When  we  speak 
to  you  of  a  Saviour,  blessed  be  God,  w7e  speak  of 
a  Being  unchanged  and  unchangeable,  "  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever."  Were  these  his 
words  to  Peter?  and  are  they  not,  then,  assuredly 
his  words  to  you?  Yes;  even  to  you  and  to  your 
children  to  the  end  of  time.  There  is  not  an  indivi- 
dual to  whom  I  now  address  myself,  who  has  ever 
said,  or  who  shall  ever  say,  from  the  bottom  of  a 
broken  contrite  heart,  "I  am  a  sinful  man,  O 
Lord  :"  to  whom  that  Lord  shall  not  reply,  "  Fear 
not."  How  blessed  an  assurance  to  the  truly  peni- 
tent !  how  comforting  a  declaration  to  the  sorrow- 
ing soul !  Are  you  saying,  with  the  deeply 
repentant  Psalmist,  "  There  is  no  soundness  in  my 
flesh,  because  of  thine  anger ;  neither  is  there  any 
rest  in  my  bones,  by  reason  of  my  sin.    For  mine 


224 


LECTURE  I. 


iniquities  are  gone  over  mine  head :  as  an  heavy 
burden  they  are  too  heavy  for  me  to  bear."  Then 
hear  the  reply  of  that  gracious  Being  to  whom  you 
complain — "Fear  not;"  "though  your  sins  be  as 
scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though 
they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool :" 
"  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it."  Are 
you  not  only  deploring  the  guilt  of  your  sins,  but 
lamenting  at  the  same  time  the  weakness  of  your 
faith '?  "  Fear  not,"  says  the  all-powerful  and 
compassionate  Redeemer,  "  my  grace  is  sufficient 
for  thee,  for  my  strength  is  made  perfect  in  weak- 
ness." Be  assured,  therefore,  upon  the  testimony 
of  that  revealed  word  which  cannot  alter,  and 
shall  not  fail,  though  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away ;  be  assured  upon  this  evidence,  that  the  be- 
lieving penitent  has  no  ground  for  fear;  that  the 
same  Saviour  addresses  you,  at  this  hour,  in  the 
same  accents  of  tenderness  and  compassion,  which 
he  addressed  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  to  Peter ; 
and  that  His  pardon,  His  grace,  His  glory,  are 
your  own.  Fall  low  before  his  feet,  as  Peter  did 
with  a  humble  and  a  contrite  spirit ;  plead  before 
His  throne  of  grace  with  the  outpourings  of  a  full 
heart,  and  He  will  raise  you  as  he  did  this  convict- 
ed sinner,  and  be  Himself  your  portion  for  time 
and  for  eternity. 


LECTURE  I. 


225 


But,  my  Christian  brethren,  we  may  not  finish 
here:  the  love  of  the  Saviour  is  indeed  infinite,  and 
unutterable,  and  entire ;  but  remember  that  he  is 
u  become  the  author  of  eternal  salvation  unto  all 
them"  only  "  that  obey  him."  "  Peter  forsook  all, 
and  followed  Jesus."  Are  you  endeavouring  to 
imitate  so  exalted  an  example?  to  forsake,  not  a 
portion  of  that  which  is  offensive  to  the  eve,  and 
contrary  to  the  word  of  our  God,  but  all,  every  be- 
setting sin,  every  uncharitable  temper,  every  doubt- 
ful pleasure,  every  worldly  entanglement  which 
opposes  you,  or  impedes  you  in  following  Jesus ; 
making  no  single  reserve  for  any  favourite  pleasure, 
or  any  questionable  profit,  but  faithfully  and  boldly 
plucking  them  out,  and  casting  them  from  you,  as  a 
free-will  offering,  at  the  command  of  your  Redeem- 
er? Who  among  us  is  there  thus  really  striving  to 
forsake  all  for  Christ  ?  A  careful  examination  of 
our  thoughts,  our  words,  our  actions,  even  for  this 
single  day  which  is  passing  over  us,  would,  we  fear, 
leave  the  holiest  without  an  answer,  and  without 
excuse.  Yet,  my  brethren,  this  it  is  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian ;  time  can  make  no  alteration  in  the  require- 
ments of  that  name ;  it  is  still  in  this  sense  obliga- 
tory upon  all  who  bear  the  name  of  Christ,  to  for- 
sake all,  to  deny  themselves,  to  take  up  the  cross, 


226 


LECTURE  I. 


and  to  follow  Christ.  What  shall  we  then  say  to 
these  things  ?  Who  is  there  that  does  not  stand 
self-convicted  before  that  God  who  seeth  the  heart  1 
Who  is  there  that  will  refuse  to  say,  "  God  be  mer- 
ciful to  me  a  sinner  !"  Who  is  there  that  will  not 
heartily  unite  in  this  most  appropriate  petition  of 
our  Church  : — "Grant,  O  merciful  God,  that  as 
thine  holy  apostles,  leaving  all  that  they  had  with- 
out delay,  were  obedient  unto  the  calling  of  thy  Son 
Jesus  Christ,  and  followed  him  ;  so  we,  forsaking  all 
worldly  and  carnal  affections,  may  evermore  be 
ready  to  follow  thy  holy  commandments,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 


LECTURE  II. 


227 


LECTURE  II. 

MATT.  XIV.  29. 

44  And  when  Peter  was  come  down  out  of  the  ship,  he  walk- 
ed on  the  water,  to  go  to  Jesus." 

Simon  Peter,  having  now  become  one  of  our 
Lord's  constant  attendants,  and  having  been  ordain- 
ed one  of  his  twelve  apostles,  is  henceforth  to  be 
found,  in  every  incident  of  importance,  holding  a 
most  prominent  situation  among  the  followers  of  our 
Lord,  and  bearing  a  most  distinguished  part. 

Is  there  an  undertaking  of  peculiar  hazard  and 
danger,  requiring  the  highest  exertion  of  faith  and 
the  most  unbounded  display  of  courage — such,  for 
example,  as  the  walking  upon  the  surface  of  the 
troubled  deep?  this  undaunted  apostle  is  foremost  in 
the  attempt.  Is  there  a  doubt  cast  upon  the  devoted 
attachment  of  the  followers  of  our  Lord,  and  from 
the  lips  of  our  Lord  himself,  "  Will  ye  also  go 
away  t" — this  affectionate  being  is  the  first,  from  the 
full  outpourings  of  a  loving  heart,  to  repel  the  impu- 


228 


LECTURE  II. 


tation :  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  thou  hast  the 
words  of  eternal  life."  Is  there  an  inquiry  which 
could  probe  the  faith,  and  accurately  ascertain  the 
degree  of  light  and  knowledge  which  the  apostles 
possessed,  "  Whom  say  ye  that  I  am  V9 — this  super- 
naturally  instructed  disciple  is  the  man  unhesitating- 
ly to  reply,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God." 

May  the  same  Spirit  who,  upon  each  of  these 
deeply  interesting  occasions,  influenced  the  heart  of 
Peter,  be  present  with  us  this  morning,  while  we 
endeavour  profitably  to  consider  the  conduct  of  the 
apostle,  under  the  first  of  these  widely  differing  cir- 
cumstances ;  and  may  this  Divine  Teacher  impart  to 
us  some  blessed  por  on  of  Peter's  courage,  of  Peter's 
wisdom,  and  of  Peter's  love  ! 

The  incident  to  which  I  shall  at  present  call  your 
attention  is  contained  in  the  14th  chapter  of  St 
Matthew's  Gospel,  where  we  read,  that  after  a  day 
spent  in  the  most  laborious  and  fatiguing  acts  of 
beneficence  and  charity;  after  miraculously  heal- 
ing the  sick  and  feeding  the  fainting  multitude,  our 
Lord  had  withdrawn  himself  from  the  presence  of 
his  beloved  disciples,  to  spend  the  greater  portion 
of  the  night  in  secret  communion  with  his  heavenly 
Father.    A  night  of  fervent  prayer,  after  a  day  of 


LECTURE  II. 


229 


ceaseless  labour !  What  an  example  for  us,  my 
brethren,  who  are  too  ready  to  consider  the 
smallest  feelings  of  fatigue,  even  if  not  induced  by 
doing  the  works  of  him  who  sent  us,  an  excuse 
fully  sufficient  for  the  intermission  or  the  diminu- 
tion of  our  communion  with  Heaven.  O !  that 
there  might  be  a  larger  portion  of  the  Spirit  which 
influenced  our  Divine  Master  shed  abroad  upon  us 
his  unprofitable  servants ! — that  there  might  be 
more  of  that  secret  communion  with  God,  that  inti- 
mate and  habitual  intercourse  with  him,  the  dearth 
of  which  spreads  such  a  meagerness  and  coldness 
over  all  the  labours  of  us  his  ministers,  and  such 
a  formality  and  deadness  over  the  best  services  of 
you,  his  people!  While  our  Lord  was  thus  en- 
gaged on  the  mountains  which  surrounded  the  lake, 
his  disciples  were  on  board  their  vessel,  tossed  with 
the  wraves,  for  the  wind  was  contrary.  Many  a 
weary  hour  had  passed,  and  they  are  doubtless 
anxiously  longing  for  the  presence  of  their  Divine 
Master ;  when  in  the  fourth  watch,  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  they  beheld  him  walking 
towards  the  vessel  upon  the  surface  of  the  sea.  No 
sooner  had  his  accents  of  encouragement  and  as- 
surance reached  their  ears,  "  It  is  I,  be  not  afraid," 
than  Peter  answered,  "Lord,  if  it  be  thou,  bid  me 
20 


230 


LECTURE  II. 


come  unto  thee  on  the  water.  And  he  said,  Come  : 
and  when  Peter  was  come  down  out  of  the  ship, 
he  walked  on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus."  How- 
striking,  how  unprecedented  an  instance  of  courage 
and  of  faith  !  At  a  single  word  from  the  lips  of 
his  Divine  Master,  the  undaunted  apostle  unhesi- 
tatingly steps  upon  the  surface  of  the  tempest- 
tossed  ocean,  and  firmly  believes  that  he  shall  find 
a  solid  footing  upon  those  soft  and  yielding  waters. 
What  motive  could  be  sufficiently  powerful  for 
such  a  daring  ?  Was  it  the  mere  desire  of  dis- 
tinguishing himself  above  his  fellowTs?  Was  it  an 
ambitious  anxiety  to  place  himself  upon  an  equality 
with  his  Omnipotent  Master?  No,  surely;  these 
were  motives  which  never  found  a  momentary 
entertainment  in  Peter's  bosom.  Observe  the  lan- 
guage of  the  request ;  it  is  not  merely,  Enable  me 
to  walk  upon  the  waters ;  give  me  power  to  per- 
form as  great  a  miracle  as  thou  art  thyself  perform- 
ing ;  let  me  do  as  man  has  never  done ;  but,  "  Bid 
me  come  unto  thee  upon  the  waters,"  that  was  the 
feeling  which  sanctified  the  request ;  Peter  hears 
the  voice  of  his  beloved  Master,  and  if  sanctioned 
by  one  word  from  him,  the  most  tremendous  of  the 
elements  shall  not  separate  them;  though  the  winds 
blow  a  tempest  around  his  head,  he  will  venture 


LECTURE  It. 


231 


through ;  though  the  waters  be  unfathomable  be- 
neath his  feet,  he  will  venture  on.  The  true  Chris- 
tian, who  has  experienced  the  powerful  influence  of 
the  love  of  Christ  upon  his  own  heart,  is  no  longer 
surprised  to  find  that  Peter  dared  to  walk  upon  the 
water,  when  he  reads  that  it  was  to  go  to  Jesus. 
What  encouragement  is  there  in  this  incident  for 
the  believer!  what  comfort  for  those  who  are  com- 
mencing the  spiritual  life,  and  desiring  to  draw 
near  with  faith  to  the  Saviour !  Upon  such  a  sub- 
ject, you  cannot  ask  more  than  your  Redeemer  will 
readily  grant :  you  cannot  ask  too  much — ye  are 
not  straitened  in  God,  ye  are  straitened  only  in 
your  own  selves  ;  you  cannot  seek  too  near  an 
access,  too  close  a  union  with  him  in  whom  you 
believe.  Imagine  the  greatest  obstacles  you  can 
imagine  to  be  between  you  and  your  God,  and  they 
sink  into  insignificance  when  compared  with  the 
opposing  elements  between  Peter  and  his  Lord. 
But  you  will  perhaps  reply,  that  yours  are  spiritual 
obstacles;  when  you  would  approach  God,  you 
have  a  fearful  host  of  disobedient  thoughts,  and 
rebellious  desires,  and  evil  tempers,  and  impure 
passions,  drawn  up  in  battle-array  before  you,  and 
continually  driving  you  far  from  him  in  whom 
your  soul  would  delight,  successfully  opposing  your 


232 


LECTURE  II. 


every  effort  to  approach  him.  Here  is  no  sufficient 
reason  for  despair ;  that  all-powerful  voice  which 
bid  Peter  come  to  his  Divine  Master,  even  through 
the  opposing  tempest,  can  call,  and  cheer,  and  en- 
courage you,  and  make  you  more  than  conqueror 
over  these  most  fearful  adversaries  of  your  soul. 

But,  perhaps,  to  some  whom  I  address,  there  are 
obstacles  widely  different  from  these.  You  cannot 
draw  near  as  you  could  desire  to  God,  because 
your  strength  is  perfect  weakness ;  every  resolution 
fails  in  the  hour  of  trial ;  day  testifies  unto  day. 
and  night  unto  night — a  sad,  sad  catalogue  of  bro- 
ken determinations  and  successful  temptations  and 
a  yielding  softness  of  spirit,  which  shrinks  from 
the  attacks  of  your  great  adversary,  and  falls  be- 
fore the  slightest  blow  in  the  day  of  battle.  To 
you  I  would  also  say,  there  is  comfort  in  this  view 
of  the  power  of  your  Redeemer.  Was  he,  in  the 
days  of  his  flesh,  able  to  fix  the  flowing  ocean? 
and  has  he  not  power  to  fix  your  wandering 
thoughts,  and  to  stay  your  wavering  resolutions? 
Was  he  able  to  make  the  liquid  waters  solid  as  a 
pavement  of  adamant  beneath  the  feet  of  Peter? 
and  is  there  any  thing  too  weak  for  him  to 
strengthen,  too  yielding  for  him  to  render  firm? 
No;  be   assured    your  very  weakness  is  your 


LECTURE  II. 


233 


strength,  if  it  but  lead  you  to  cast  yourself  unre- 
servedly upon  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  fountain  of 
strength,  for  your  support.  But  remember,  that  it 
was  only  in  the  power  of  the  Lord  that  Peter 
ventured :  had  he  attempted  it  in  his  own,  he 
would  inevitably  have  sunk  beneath  the  waves.  If 
you  are  really  sincere  in  the  desire  of  drawing 
nigh  unto  God  earnest  in  the  prayer,  "  Bid  me 
come  unto  thee,"  the  word  of  Christ  will  not  be 
wanting  to  encourage  you,  the  power  of  Christ  will 
not  be  wanting  to  enable  you  to  go  to  him,  though 
all  the  weakness,  and  all  the  wickedness,  of  your 
fickle  and  corrupt  nature,  should  place  themselves 
between  you. 

Thus  far  we  have  seen  a  most  instructive  and 
beautiful  exhibition  of  Peter's  courage  and  faith; 
we  are  now  to  behold  the  imperfection  of  these 
Very  graces  exhibited,  and  in  the  self-same  hour, 
and  by  the  self-same  individual.  It  is  perhaps  not 
unworthy  of  observation,  that  in  sacred  history  we 
invariably  find  that  the  recorded  defects  of  the 
people  of  God  are  on  the  side  of  their  most  con- 
spicuous graces.  Thus,  the  recorded  sin  of  the 
father*  of  the  faithful  was  want  of  faith — of  the 
meek  and  gentle  Moses.f  that  he  spake  unadvisedly 

*  Gen.  xii.  12,  13.  t  Psalm  cvi.  32,  33. 

20* 


234 


LECTURE  II. 


with  his  lips — of  the  patient  Job*,  that  he  was  im- 
patient— of  the  man  after  God's  own  heart,  that  he 
was  sensualf — of  the  tender-hearted  John,J  that  he 
was  vindictive — of  the  lion-hearted  Peter,§  that  he 
was  cowardly.  The  Spirit  of  God  has  recorded 
these  failures  of  the  best  of  men,  to  convince  us, 
if  we  are  capable  of  conviction,  that  man,  even  in 
his  best  estate,  is  "  deceitful  upon  the  weights,  al- 
together lighter  than  vanity  itself;"  and  that  if 
tried  by  his  own  merits  in  the  balance  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, he  would,  under  the  most  favourable  circum- 
stances, infallibly  be  found  wanting. 

Peter  had  not  only  boldly  ventured  on  that  path 
of  miracle,  but  had  proceeded  some  little  distance 
upon  it  with  the  most  perfect  security ;  when,  to 
our  surprise  and  dismay,  we  read,  that,  "  when  he 
saw  the  wind  boisterous,  he  was  afraid ;  and,  be- 
ginning to  sink,  he  cried,  saying,  Lord,  save  me  !" 
What  an  instantaneous  transition  !  from  a  boldness 
which  had  voluntarily  courted  an  unknown  danger, 
to  a  timidity  which  feared,  where  his  own  experi- 
ence might  have  convinced  him  that  it  was  safe. 
And  shall  we,  my  brethren,  harshly  condemn  the 
faithful  apostle  for  his  act  of  faithlessness?  Our 


*  Job  iii.  1,2,  3. 
t  Luke  ix.  54. 


t  2  Sam.  xi.  4. 
§  Matt.  xiv.  30. 


4 


LECTURE  II. 


235 


Lord  once  said,*  "  Let  him  that  is  without  sin 
among  you  cast  the  first  stone."    So  would  we 
now  say,  let  him  who  would  have  dared  to  place 
his  foot  where  Peter  did,  condemn  him  for  his  want 
of  courage ;  if  you  believe,  that  at  a  single  word  of 
bidding  from  your  Divine  Master,  you  would  unhesi- 
tatingly have  taken  one  step  with  this  intrepid  dis- 
ciple, you  may  be  privileged  to  arraign  him,  that 
he  advanced  no  further.    "  It  was,"  says  the  Evan- 
gelist, "  when  he  saw  the  wind  boisterous,  that  he 
began  to  sink."    He  had,  therefore,  withdrawn  his 
steadfast  gaze  from  his  Divine  Master,  and  was 
faithlessly  looking  around  upon  the  dark  clouds, 
and  the  still  darker  waters.   How  does  every  word 
of  this  instructive  narrative,  agree  with  the  be- 
liever's experience,  and  come  home  to  the  believer's 
heart !  When  is  it  that  the  Christian  fails  ?  When  is 
it  that  the  Christian  desponds  ?  When  is  it  that  the 
Christian  begins  to  sink?  Not  in  the  hour,  however 
great  the  trial  or  afflicting  the  dispensation,  that  the 
eye  of  faith  is  steadfastly  fixed  upon  his  Saviour: 
this  is  not  the  hour  when  the  Christian  sinks :  it  is 
when  he  forgets  and  disobeys  that  most  important 
command,  "  Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved ;" 
when  his  path  is  overcast,  and  trouble  and  tempta- 


*  John  viii.  7. 


236 


LECTURE  II. 


tion  so  thickly  surround  him,  that  his  thoughts  are 
led  to  fasten  themselves  upon  these  outward  diffi- 
culties, or  inward  trials,  and  thus  to  be  withdrawn 
from  the  fountain  of  strength  and  succour.  Chris- 
tian brethren,  this  is  a  temptation  against  which, 
we  cannot  too  earnestly  or  too  constantly  be  upon 
our  guard ;  for  it  is  one  of  the  most  common  and 
most  successful  with  which  our  spiritual  enemy 
assails  us.  Let  nothing  induce  you  to  turn  the  eye 
of  faith,  even  for  a  passing  hour,  from  the  Saviour 
of  sinners;  while  you  look  on  him,  you  are  safe: 
danger  begins  the  moment  that  you  cease  to  do  so: 
once  turn  aside,  because  the  cloud  is  dark,  or  the 
wind  is  boisterous ;  give  the  reins  to  a  desponding 
imagination ;  follow  out  the  delusive  reasonings 
of  a  deceitful  or  a  doubting  heart,  and  the  inevitable 
effect  will  be,  that  every  moment  so  spent,  will  the 
more  widely  separate  you  from. Him,  who  alone 
can  be  your  refuge,  and  your  support.  Your 
strength,  your  only  strength,  consists  in  cleaving 
daily,  hourly,  momentarily  (as  the  parasitic  plant 
of  a  summer  clings  to  the  oak  of  ages,)  to  your 
Redeemer,  and  drawing  from  his  unsearchable 
riches  and  his  inexhaustible  fulness,  a  sufficiency 
for  all  your  poverty,  and  for  all  your  need. 

While  we  thus  comment  upon  the  apostle's  faith- 


LECTURE  II.  23? 

Jessness,  let  us  not  forget  that  it  was  the  act  of  a 
moment,  and  but  a  moment :  no  sooner  did  he  begin 
to  sink,  than  he  cried, 44  Lord,  save  me  !"  There  was 
no  faithlessness  in  that  petition.  Even  at  his  lowest 
estate,  the  true  believer  is  a  believer  still.  He  may 
begin  to  sink,  but  the  cry  of  fear  with  him  will  also 
be  the  cry  of  faith:  while  sinking,  his  eye  will  once 
more  rest  upon  a  merciful  and  pardoning  Saviour; 
while  falling,  he  will  cry  with  the  falling  Psalmist, 
<;  O  cast  me  not  away  from  thy  presence,  and  take 
not  thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me  ;"  and  with  that  sin- 
ning believer  he  will  find  restoring  grace,  with  that 
sinking  apostle,  he  will  feel  the  outstretched  arm. 

Continuing  the  history,  we  are  told  that  "  Jesus 
stretched  forth  his  hand  and  caught  him,  and  said 
unto  him,  O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst 
thou  doubt  ?"  Behold  the  blessed  effects  of  a  sin- 
gle heartfelt  prayer.  Though  beginning  to  sink,  it 
was  not  too  late ;  though  possessing  but  little  faith, 
it  was  not  too  feeble.  It  was  enough  for  our  com- 
passionate Redeemer,  that  it  was  the  cry  of  one 
who  had  no  hope  but  in  his  mercy,  yet  in  that 
mercy  had  the  most  unshaken  confidence.  These 
were  the  wings  which  carried  that  short  petition, 
"  Lord,  save  me !"  directly  to  the  heart  of  him,  to 
whom  it  was  addressed.    This  then  is  a  true  speci- 


238 


LECTURE  II. 


men  of  acceptable  prayer.  With  such  an  exam- 
ple, and  such  an  encouragement  before  us,  let  me 
urge  you  to  ask  yourself,  Are  these  the  feelings 
which  occupy  my  heart,  when  I  raise  my  voice  in 
prayer?  have  I  ever  offered  one  such  earnest, 
heartfelt  petition  as  this  of  Peter  at  the  throne  of 
grace  ?  You  have  this  day  uttered  many  prayers  ; 
you  have  made  use  of  a  form  of  words  truly  scrip- 
tural, truly  spiritual,  truly  applicable  to  all  the  mul- 
tiplied necessities  of  the  largest  congregation ;  but 
you  may  have  been  no  more  benefited  by  these 
petitions,  than  the  beggar  would  be  enriched  by- 
walking  over  a  golden  pavement.  Did  you  pray 
the  prayers,  even  which  your  lips  have  uttered  ? 
When  you  repeated,  "  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us, 
miserable  sinners,"  was  there  any  feeling  of  misery 
— any  real  conviction  that  you  were  sinners — any 
heartfelt  desire  for  mercy  ?  When  your  minister, 
solemnly  addressing  himself  to  the  omnipotent  Je- 
hovah, exclaimed,  "  0  God,  make  speed  to  save 
us,"  and  you  replied,  "  O  Lord,  make  haste  to  help 
us,"  was  this  a  mere  formal  repetition  of  a  request 
in  which  you  had  no  interest ;  or  was  it  an  ear- 
nest expression  of  real  feeling,  warm  from  the 
heart,  dictated  by  a  sense  of  weakness,  which  you 
acknowledge  yourselves  utterly  unable  to  remedy? 


LECTURE  II. 


239 


Was  it  urged  by  a  conviction  as  heartfelt  as  that 
of  the  drowning  Peter,  that  if  God  do  not  help  you, 
if  Christ  do  not  save  you,  you  must  perish,  and 
perish  everlastingly  1  Without  these  feelings,  there 
may  be  many  words,  but  there  is  no  prayer. 
Prayer  is  simply  the  faithful  utterance  of  those 
desires,  and  of  those  necessities,  of  which,  even 
when  unutterecl,  the  heart  is  full.  It  cannot,  there- 
fore, exist  without  the  consciousness  of  your  own 
helplessness,  and  of  your  Saviour's  all-sufficiency: 
without  these  feelings,  hours  of  prayer  will  be  un- 
heeded ;  with  them,  be  assured,  the  smallest  whis- 
per that  faith  shall  ever  utter,  will  not  return  unan- 
swered. 

But  we  must  hasten  to  the  conclusion  of  the 
incident  upon  which  we  have  been  engaged. 
"  When  they  were  come  into  the  ship,  the  wind 
ceased,''  and,  as  St.  John  has  added  to  his  narra- 
tion, "  immediately  the  ship  was  at  the  land 
whither  they  went."  What  the  disciples  had  la- 
boured to  effect  during  the  livelong  night,  by  their 
own  exertions,  and  without  avail,  is  performed  in 
a  moment  by  the  power  and  presence  of  their 
Master.  Before  he  enters,  we  are  told,  "  the  ship 
was  now  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  tossed  with 
waves,  for  the  wind  was  contrary."    When  he 


240 


LECTURE  II. 


enters,  the  wind  ceases  and  the  vessel  moves  for- 
ward, through  the  still  waters,  to  the  haven  where 
it  would  be.  My  Christian  brethren,  do  I  address 
any  among  you  whose  souls  resemble  at  this  hour 
this  tempest-beaten  vessel?  who  have  ploughed  your 
way  hitherto  with  toil  and  difficulty  through  the 
dark  waters  of  a  dreary  world,  but  have  wandered 
widely  from  your  course,  and  even  now  have  no 
comfortable  assurance,  that  the  morning  light  will 
find  you  making  the  land  of  your  inheritance? 
Here  are  glad  tidings  for  you  ;  tidings  which  we 
pray  the  Spirit  of  God  to  carry  home  to  your 
hearts :  here  is  One  whom  the  winds  and  the  sea 
obey,  who  is  willing  to  become  the  inmate  of  your 
bosom,  and  there  to  take  up  his  lasting  abode,  and 
to  speed  you  on  your  way  rejoicing.  It  is  his  ab- 
sence that  has  raised  the  storm  you  cannot  quell, 
and  which  has  kept  you,  and  will  for  ever  keep 
you  from  the  wished-for  haven.  In  vain  you  la- 
bour to  advance  by  your  own  poor  and  hopeless 
efforts :  watch  after  watch  of  your  short  night  is 
passing,  and  the  shore  is  still  far,  far  beyond  your 
view.  O !  believe  me,  it  is  his  presence  which  can 
effect  what  neither  man  nor  angel  can  attempt: 
it  is  his  presence,  though  you  know  it  not,  which  is 
all  you  need.     Admit  him  freely  in  all  his  offices 


LECTURE  II. 


241 


as  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King,  into  your  heart,  and 
from  that  hour  the  tempest  within,  and  the  storm 
without,  shall  alike  be  hushed,  and  you  shall  be 
carried  forward  calmly,  peacefully,  and  joyfully, 
through  the  still  waters,  to  that  haven  where  you 
would  be.  You  shall  not  only  see,  but  enter  that 
blissful  country,  where  Christ  for  ever  reigns,  "  the 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords." 


21 


242 


LECTURE  HI. 


LECTURE  III. 

MATT.  XVI.  18. 

"  I  say  also  unto  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this 
rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it." 

At  the  present  day,  when  the  pretensions  of  the 
church  of  Rome  have  assumed  a  prominency  which 
in  this  Protestant  kingdom  has  been  long  denied 
them,  it  behoves  every  member  of  our  national 
Establishment,  as  far  as  his  leisure  and  ability  will 
permit,  to  make  himself  master  of  the  doctrinal 
subjects  in  dispute.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  he  is 
bound  to  enter  the  dry  and  barren  field  of  polemical  v 
divinity,  and  to  lose  his  time  and  his  temper  in  the 
mazes  of  religious  controversy;  but  simply,  with 
the  Bible  in  his  hand  and  with  earnest  prayer  for 
the  divine  teaching,  to  examine  the  great  leading 
points  of  difference  between  the  churches  ;  that  he 
may  not  himself  be  "  carried  away  with  every  wind 
of  doctrine,"  and  that  he  may  be  able  wisely  to  give 
to  others  "  an  answer  of  the  hope  that  is  in  him." 
We  have  lived  so  long  in  a  state  of  security,  that 


LECTURE  HI. 


243 


many  of  us  are  really  ignorant  of  the  chief  causes 
which  led  our  forefathers  to  separate  from  a  church 
which  had  made  M  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect, 
through  their  traditions.''  The  consequence  of  this 
ignorance  is,  that  men  hesitate  not  to  assert,  that 
the  differences  between  the  churches,  are  little 
more  than  verbal  differences;  not  considering  that 
such  an  acknowledgment,  if  it  were  true,  would  dis- 
tinctly prove  the  reformed  religion  to  be,  what  the 
Romanist  has  always  pronounced  it,  an  unjustifiable 
schism. 

Feeling  the  truth  of  these  reflections  most  power- 
fully myself,  I  trust  you  will  bear  with  me,  if,  while 
speaking  upon  the  words  of  the  text,  I  am  led  to 
dwell  upon  them  in  a  more  argumentative  manner 
than  has  usually  been  adopted  in  these  Lectures. 
At  the  same  time  1  shall  feel  it  my  bounden  duty, 
as  it  is  on  all  occasions  my  earnest  desire,  most 
scrupulously  to  avoid  every  angry  and  irritating 
consideration ;  and  while  endeavouring  to  speak  the 
truth  in  sincerity,  to  endeavour  equally  to  speak  it 
in  love ;  remembering  that  if  our  creed  be  more 
pure,  and  our  church  more  scriptural  than  those 
from  whom  we  differ,  a  double  wo  will  be  ours,  if 
the  spirit  in  which  we  differ  be  not  more  heavenly, 
the  temper  more  chastened,  and  subdued. 


244 


LECTURE  III. 


Our  Lord,  in  the  chapter  from  which  the  text  is 
taken,  had  asked  his  disciples,  saying,  "  Whom  do 
men  say  that  I  the  Son  of  Man  am  V9  "  And  they 
said,  Some  say  that  thou  art  John  the  Baptist,  some 
Elias,  and  others  Jeremias,  or  one  of  the  prophets. 
He  saith  unto  them,  But  whom  say  ye  that  I  am? 
And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said,  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  A  confession 
of  faith  which,  whether  we  consider  the  period  at 
which  it  was  made,  or  the  great  peculiarity  and 
fulness  of  it,  is  the  most  remarkable,  which  the 
pages  of  inspiration  have  presented  to  us.  It  is, 
indeed,  impossible  to  convey  in  our  own  language, 
without  tautology,  all  the  accurate  precision  of  the 
original,  which  might  have  been  thus  literally  ren- 
dered :  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  God, 
the  living  God ;"  marking  most  emphatically,  that 
Peter  not  only  believed,  as  even  a  heathen  centurion 
could  confess,  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  "  Son  of 
God,"  but  that  he  was  the  only  Son,  of  the  only 
God  of  heaven  and  earth. 

It  was  in  reply  to  this  confession,  that  "  Jesus  an- 
swered and  said  unto  Peter,  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon 
Barjona,  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto 
thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Man 
may  be  powerful  in  imparting  the  knowledge  of 


lecture  m.  245 

this  world,  which  comes  to  naught ;  man  may  im- 
part the  knowledge  even  of  spiritual  truth,  but  in  im- 
parting faith  he  is  utterly  powerless.  This  is  the 
prerogative  of  the  Divinity  himself:  "  Flesh  and 
blood"  never  shall  and  never  can  convey  it :  "  all 
thy  childen  are  taught  of  Thee,"  says  the  prophet, 
and  never  can  the  seed  of  saving  faith  be  sown  in 
the  heart,  but  by  the  power  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Our  Lord  having  therefore  pronounced  him  blessed, 
who  received  this  precious  gift,  thus  continued, 
ik  And  I  say  also  unto  thee,  Thou  art  Peter,  and 
upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 

It  will  be  unnecessary  for  me  to  inform  the  gene- 
rality of  my  hearers,  that  this  is  the  remarkable 
declaration  of  our  Lord,  upon  which  the  arrogant 
pretensions  of  the  church  of  Rome  to  supremacy, 
and  infallibility,  have  been  founded.  It  is  here, 
according  to  her  exposition  of  the  passage  in  ques- 
tion, that  our  Lord  appointed  Peter  his  vicegerent 
upon  earth,  the  acknowledged  head  of  his  church, 
and  with  ample  power  to  bequeath,  and  to  perpe- 
tuate this  astonishing  authority  to  his  successors, 
throughout  all  ages,  even  unto  the  end  of  time.  If 
our  Lord  had  really,  by  these  words,  conferred  any- 
such  remarkable  authority  or  power  upon  Peter, 
21* 


246 


LECTURE  III. 


it  would  still  remain  for  the  Romanist  to  demon- 
strate that  this  authority  had  descended  to  the 
bishops  of  Rome,  of  whom,  as  an  old  writer  has 
well  remarked,  "  whether  they  are  Peter's  succes- 
sors in  place  or  no,  is  a  question ;  but  that  they  are 
not  his  successors  in  the  truths  of  Christianity,  is 
past  all  question."  We,  however,  do  not  believe 
that  the  words  of  the  text,  were  intended  to  con- 
vey any  such  supremacy  even  to  Peter,  but  that 
when  our  Lord  said,  "  Upon  this  rock  I  will  build 
my  church,"  he  spoke  not  of  Peter,  but  of  the  con- 
fession of  faith,  or  rather  the  object  of  his  confes- 
sion, which  Peter  had  just  made.  To  this  opinion 
one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  ancient  fathers,  St. 
Chrysostom,  has  added  the  full  w<eight  of  his  valua- 
ble testimony ;  for  he  expressly  says,  "  Upon  this 
rock,  that  is,  upon  the  faith  of  his  profession."  But 
not  to  enter  too  deeply  into  this  inquiry,  which 
would  occupy,  as  it  has  indeed  already  done, 
volumes  of  controversy,  I  would  merely  offer  two 
of  the  many  arguments  by  which  this  unjustifiable 
assumption  of  the  church  of  Rome  has  been  contro- 
verted. First,  I  would  remind  those  of  my  hearers 
who  consult  the  original  language  of  the  Scriptures 
of  truth,  that  when  our  Lord  says,  "  Thou  art 
Peter,  or  thou  art  a  stone,"  he  makes  use  of  a 


LECTURE  III. 


247 


masculine  substantive,  and  one  usually  applied  by 
the  classical  writers  to  a  fragment  of  a  rock,  or 
such  a  stone  as  a  man  can  lift.  When  he  continues 
the  sentence,  "  and  upon  this  rock,"  he  changes  the 
word  into  a  feminine  noun,  which  is  always  em- 
ployed by  the  classical  writers  to  express  the  solid 
rock  itself;  and  he  continues  to  refer  to  this  femi- 
nine noun  throughout  the  sentence.  A  change  of 
expression  which,  to  say  the  least,  would  be  ex- 
tremely improbable,  if  our  Lord  were  speaking  of 
the  same  person,  or  the  same  thing  throughout. 

To  those  of  my  hearers  with  whom  this  argu- 
ment cannot  be  expected  to  avail,  I  would  address 
one,  the  weight  of  which  may  be  appreciated  by  all. 
If  our  Lord  had  really  thus  conspicuously  pointed 
out  Peter,  to  the  notice  of  the  other  disciples,  as  the 
acknowledged  head  of  his  church,  should  we  not 
have  beheld  him  on  every  future  occasion  recog- 
nised as  their  chief,  by  his  companions  ?  Instead 
of  this,  we  do  not  find  that  in  any  single  instance 
he  ever  assumed  such  supremacy,  or  that  it  wras 
ever  offered  him.  Nay,  so  wholly  unconscious  do 
the  disciples  appear  to  have  been  of  any  such  dis- 
tinction, that  we  find  them,  to  the  very  end  of  our 
Lord's  residence  among  them,  disputing  M  which  of 
them  should  be  greatest/'    A  point  upon  which 


248 


LECTURE  III. 


there  could  have  been  no  possible  ground  for  dis- 
pute, if  the  sentence  before  us  (as  the  Romanists 
explain  it)  had  long  before,  and  on  the  authority  of 
Christ  himself,  for  ever  decided  the  question.  I 
would  only  add  upon  this  subject,  a  paraphrase  of 
the  verse  under  consideration,  which  may  put  it  in 
a  clear  light  to  the  English  reader :  "  I  say  unto 
thee,  that  I  have  rightly  given  unto  thee,  the  name 
of  Peter,  which  signifies  a  stone,  for  thou  hast,  by 
this  confession,  proved  thyself  a  living  stone  in  that 
foundation  of  my  prophets  and  apostles,  whereof 
/  myself  am  the  chief  corner-stone,  and  the  solid 
rock  upon  which  my  church  shall  be  so  surely 
built,  that  the  powers  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it." 

It  is  then  true,  my  brethren,  that  there  is  a  church 
of  which  not  the  apostle  Peter,  but  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  himself,  is  the  everlasting  foundation  ;  and 
has  it  pleased  a  merciful  God,  that  your  lot  should 
be  cast  in  a  land,  where  a  living  branch  of  that 
true  church  is  planted  ?  Bless  the  Lord  for  this 
above  all  your  other  mercies.  Rejoice  not  that 
you  are  rich,  or  healthy,  or  powerful,  but  in 
this  rejoice,  that  God  has  brought  you  within  the 
blessed  sounds  of  the  gospel  of  life,  and  within  the 
pale  of  that  church,  which  his  own  right  hand  has 


LECTURE  III.  249 

planted.    But  while  you  thus  rejoice,  rejoice  with 
trembling:  great  are  your  mercies,  countless  are 
your  privileges,  but  be  assured  that  fully  in  propor- 
tion also  is  your  responsibility.    No  church  how- 
ever pure,  no  outward  ordinances  however  perfect, 
no  services  however  scriptural,  can  of  themselves 
ensure  salvation.    You  will  not  be  saved  as  a  con- 
gregation, but  as  individuals.    The  gates  of  hell 
cannot  prevail  against  the  church  because  it  is 
built  upon  the  rock  of  Christ,  but  they  may,  and 
unquestionably  will  be  found,  on  the  last  day  to 
prevail  against  many  nominal  members  who  have 
swelled  the  ranks,  and  filled  the  temples,  of  the 
purest  church.    The  inquiry,  then,  for  each- is  this: 
"  Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid, 
which  is  Jesus  Christ ;"  has  this  foundation  been 
deeply  laid,  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  my  own  soul? 
have  I  been  thus  turned  from  death  unto  life  ?  and 
am  I  now,  walking  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the 
Spirit?    If  these  things  be  so,  then  indeed  may  we 
affirm  that  you  are  a  true  member  of  the  true 
church  of  the  Redeemer  ;  then  we  may  say  to  vou 
individually,  what  Christ  has  here  declared  of  his 
church  at  large — "  The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  pre- 
vail against"  you  :  for  it  is  to  you  that  he  speaks, 
when  he  says,  "  My  sheep  hear  my  voice,  and  I 


250 


LECTURE  III. 


know  them,  and  they  follow  me :  and  I  give  unto 
them  eternal  life,  and  they  shall  never  perish,  nei- 
ther shall  any  man  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand." 

Our  Lord  having  uttered  his  remarkable  prophecy 
of  the  perpetuity  of  his  church,  thus  continues  to 
address  himself  to  Peter — "  I  will  give  unto  thee  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou 
shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and 
whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed 
in  heaven."  "  To  bind  and  to  loose"  were  terms  in 
common  usage  among  the  Jews,  "  meaning  simply 
to  prohibit  and  to  permit." 

The  authority  therefore  thus  bestowed  upon  Peter,  » 
and  the  other  apostles,  alluded  not  to  persons,  but  to 
doctrines;  it  was  the  power  to  bind,  or  to  pro- 
hibit,  such  things  as  might  be  detrimental  to  the 
interests  of  the  infant  church ;  and  we  find  them 
afterwards  using  this  powTer,  for  example,  by  bind- 
ing or  forbidding  circumcision  to  the  believers,  and 
the  eating  of  things  offered  to  idols,  of  things  stran- 
gled, and  of  blood :  and  the  power  to  loose,  was 
the  power  to  allow  their  followers  to  continue  the 
observance  of  these  non-essentials,  the  prohibition 
of  which  might  have  wounded  the  tender  con- 
sciences of  the  new  converts :  and  we  find  an 
example  of  the  apostles'  use  of  this  authority,  by 


LECTURE  III. 


251 


their  allowing  purification  (although  a  remnant  of 
the  ceremonial  law)  to  Paul,  and  four  other  bre- 
thren, for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  scandal.  By 
"  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  is  intended 
simply  the  power  of  first  opening  the  doors  of  the 
new  religion,  through  which,  as  the  kingdom  of 
grace  here,  believers  were  to  pass  to  the  kingdom 
of  glory  hereafter;  and  accordingly  we  find  Peter, 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  as  regarded  the  Jews,  and 
afterwards  at  the  house  of  Cornelius,  as  respected 
the  Gentiles,  thus  engaged ;  being  on  these  occa- 
sions honoured  as  the  first  person,  who  instru- 
mentality opened  both  to  Jews  and  Gentiles,  the 
doors  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Let  us,  however,  pass  from  these  subjects  of 
Biblical  criticism,  to  one  of  those  affecting  inci- 
dents, with  which  the  life  of  Peter  is  replete,  and 
which  is  well  calculated  to  minister  delight  and  en- 
couragement to  all  who  hear  it.  Our  Lord  had,  as 
we  find  recorded  in  the  6th  of  St.  John,  throughout 
a  long  and  impressive  discourse,  been  delivering 
some  of  the  deepest,  and,  to  unenlightened  minds, 
most  staggering  doctrines  of  his  gospel.  He  had, 
for  the  first  time,  taught  his  hearers  that  vital  truth 
of  the  new  revelation,  "  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of 
the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no 


252 


LECTURE  III. 


life  in  you  f  and  in  reply  to  the  suppressed  mur- 
murs, and  discontent  of  his  auditory,  instead  of 
qualifying  his  statements  to  meet  their  carnal  ap- 
prehensions, he  added  the  still  more  distasteful  doc- 
trine, "  no  man  can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father 
which  hath  sent  me  draw  him." 

These  are  the  humbling  truths  which  have  in  all 
ages  roused  the  indignation,  and  awakened  the  ani- 
mosity of  the  natural  heart ;  truths  for  which  even 
the  divine  eloquence  of  our  Lord  himself,  and  the 
affectionate  tenderness  with  which  he  promulgated 
them,  could  obtain  no  favourable  reception ;  for  we 
are  immediately  informed,  "From  that  time  many 
of  his  disciples  went  back,  and  walked  no  more 
with  him." 

If  our  Lord,  when  he  took  upon  him  our  nature, 
did  not  disdain  to  partake  with  us  of  its  sympa- 
thies, and  its  infirmities,  this  must  have  been  to 
his  feeling  heart  one  of  the  most  trying  events  of 
his  ministry.  To  the  common  observer,  indeed, 
u  the  crown  of  thorns"  might  seem  to  wound  more 
deeply,  the  Roman  spear  to  do  its  work  more  ter- 
ribly, but  those  who  know  the  value  of  immortal 
souls,  will  readily  acknowledge,  that  the  spear  and 
the  thorns  could  give  no  pang  equally  acute,  with 


LECTURE  III. 


253 


that  inflicted  by  the  sight  of  one  backsliding  dis- 
ciple ! 

Truly  distressing  is  it  to  the  minister  of  peace, 
to  drive  even  the  most  indifferent,  and  the  most 
hardened  from  the  blessed  sounds  of  that  salvation, 
which  it  is  his  duty,  and  his  delight  to  offer  with 
equal  freeness  unto  all :  how  much  more  painful 
is  it,  then,  my  brethren,  when  those  who  have  for 
a  time  listened  with  pleasure,  and  received  the 
word  with  joy,  and  heard  it  gladly,  "  go  back  and 
walk  no  more  with  him !"  Yet  even  when  this 
occurs,  with  such  an  example  before  his  eyes,  the 
minister  of  Christ  will  not  complain — *'  The  dis- 
ciple is  not  above  his  master,  nor  the  servant  above 
his  Lord.  It  is  enough  for  the  disciple  to  be  as  his 
master,  and  the  servant  as  his  lord." — If  it  be  our 
painful  lot,  to  behold  those  among  you,  who  we 
hoped  might  have  been  "  our  joy  and  crown  of 
rejoicing,  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
at  his  coming,"  turning  aside  in  disgust  at  the  plain- 
ness, or  in  contempt  at  the  humbling  nature  of  those 
truths,  which  we  feel  it  our  bounden  duty  to  im- 
part, we  will  not  qualify  or  compromise  the  terms 
of  our  message ;  we  will  not  alter  one  iota  of  the 
declarations  of  God,  to  disarm  your  enmity,  or  to 
conciliate  your  good-will;  neither  will  we  con- 

22 


254 


LECTURE  III. 


demn  or  reproach  you  for  these  things  we  will 
rather  "  pray  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he  may 
send  forth  other  labourers  into  his  harvest,"  who 
may  gather  in  the  full  sheaves  where  we  have 
only  gleaned  the  scattered  ears;  who  may  be  abun- 
dantly fruitful,  where  we  have  been  barren ;  who 
may,  without  suppressing  the  truths  of  Scripture, 
be  enabled  to  present  them  more  unexception- 
ably,  and  to  enforce  them  more  successfully.  We 
will  rest  contentedly  upon  the  promises  of  our  God, 
and  believe  with  the  prophet  of  old,  "  I  have  la- 
boured in  vain,  I  have  spent  my  strength  for 
naught  and  in  vain ;  yet  surely  my  judgment  is 
with  the  Lord,  and  my  work  with  my  God." 
"  Though  Israel  be  not  gathered,"  the  Lord  shall 
be  glorified. 

The  inspired  historian,  having  mentioned  this  fact, 
of  the  departure  even  of  "  many  of  the  disciples," 
immediately  adds  our  Lord's  affecting  comment 
upon  it:  "  Then  said  Jesus  unto  the  twelve,  Will  ye 
also  go  away  1  Then  Simon  Peter  answered,  Lord, 
to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life.  And  we  believe,  and  are  sure,  that 
thou  art  that  Christ,  the  son  of  the  living  God." 
How  near  do  such  little  incidents  as  these  appear 
to  bring  us  to  the  heart  of  Jesus,  and  of  him  whose 


LECTURE  IK. 


255 


life  we  are  considering  !  we  can  almost  behold  the 
affectionate  Redeemer  looking  round  upon  his  "  little 
flock,"  and  while  marking  their  diminished  num- 
bers, making  that  inquiry  which  must  have  touched 
the  hardest  heart;  we  can  imagine  we  see  the  zeal- 
ous Peter  pressing  forward  from  the  circle,  and  al- 
most interrupting  the  reproachful  inquiry,  eager  to 
disclaim,  for  his  brethren  and  himself,  the  possibility 
of  such  an  act,  burning  to  relieve  his  own  bosom  by 
a  voluntary  confession  of  a  faith  already  matured 
unto  certainty,  and  a  regard  which,  even  then,  had 
ripened  into  love.  Who  can  read  his  answer, 
"Lord  to  whom  shall  we  go?  thou  hast  the  words 
of  eternal  life,"  without  rejoicing  that  a  reply  so  en- 
couraging to  the  heart  of  every  believer  was  thus 
elicited,  and  without  sincerely  desiring  to  appropri- 
ate it  to  himself?  Be  assured,  brethren,  that  there 
are  states  of  mind  in  which  these  incidents,  which 
the  careless  reader  of  his  Bible  is  apt  to  consider 
trifling  and  unimportant,  come  home  with  the  most 
irresistible  energy  and  power — times  when  we  are 
unable  to  apprehend  the  blessed  doctrines,  or  to  ap- 
ply the  precious  promises  of  Scripture;  but  when  a 
single  brief,  and  touching  sentiment  like  this  will 
carry  a  balm  to  the  wounded  spirit,  or  suggest  a 
prayer  to  the  prayerless  heart.    Often  have  I  heard 


256 


LECTURE  III. 


one  of  the  most  interesting  writers  of  the  present 
day  declare,  that  at  a  period  of  his  life,  when  his 
soul  was  powerfully  tempted  to  "  deny  the  Lord 
who  bought  him,"  and  to  fall  back  into  the  mazes 
of  infidelity  from  which  he  had  even  then  but  par- 
tially escaped,  the  only  declaration  of  Scripture 
upon  which  he  could  not  find  a  momentary  resting- 
place,  was  that  which  we  are  now  considering,  that 
during  this  awful  and  long-continued  conflict,  in 
the  solitude  of  a  sick  room,  a  prey  to  pain  and 
weakness,  greatly  needing  those  consolations  which 
the  errors  of  a  false  religion,  and  the  heartless  dog- 
mas of  scepticism,  never  could  "Supply,  unable  to 
close  with  the  blessed  offers  of  salvation  through  the 
blood  of  Jesus,  and  yet  willing  to  cling,  as  with  a 
dying  hand,  to  his  cross,  the  affecting  exclamation 
which  burst  continually  from  his  lips,  and  alone  im- 
parted even  a  hope  of  peace,  was  this: — "Lord, 
to  whom  shall  I  go?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal 
life."  A  cry  of  faith,  faint  and  imperfect  indeed ; 
so  imperfect  and  so  faint,  that  had  man  been  the 
judge,  it  never  would  have  reached  the  mercy-seat, 
and  yet  a  cry  which,  presented  by  a  merciful  High 
Priest,  entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  God  of 
Sabaoth,  and  brought  "  help  from  the  sanctuary, 
and  strength  from  out  of  Zion." 


LECTURE  III. 


257 


But,  my  brethren,  melancholy  is  the  state  of 
those,  who  leave  the  great  question  undecided  till 
such  an  hour  as  that ;  with  a  body  weakened  by 
suffering,  and  a  mind  impaired  by  disease,  to  have 
to  struggle  against  our  mighty  enemy,  and  to  seek, 
for  the  first  time,  a  refuge  from  his  attacks ;  to  be 
asking,  "  To  whom  shall  I  go?"  when  you  ought  to 
be  saying,  "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed:"  to  be 
preparing  for  the  conflict,  when  you  ought  to  be 
ready  to  say,  "  I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I  have 
kept  the  faith  ;"  to  be  putting  on  the  helmet  at 
the  very  hour  when  you  ought  rather  to  be  looking 
for  the  crown. 

Why  will  you  thus  delay  1  Why  will  you  not 
now  voluntarily  ask  the  question,  which  your  fears 
will  then  compel  you  to  ask,  "  To  whom  shall  we 
go  ?"  We  are  now  able  to  reply  to  you,  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the 
world."  Our  gracious  Redeemer  now  assures  you, 
M  Him  that  cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out."  Trifle  not  with  these  offers,  I  beseech  you, 
my  beloved  brethren,  as  if  they  were  for  ever  within 
your  reach,  and  waiting  your  approval.  It  may 
not  always  be  in  our  power  thus  to  offer,  or  in 
yours  to  accept  these  gracious  proposals.  There  is 
a  time  when  long  indifference  may  have  closed  the 
22* 


258 


LECTURE  III. 


ears,  or  habitual  sin  have  hardened  the  heart 
against  every  message  of  a  Saviour's  love.  There 
is  a  time  when  the  Spirit  may  cease  to  strive  with 
you,  when  he  may  "laugh  at  your  calamity,  and 
mock  when  your  fear  cometh ;"  when  you  may  be 
given  over  to  the  waywardness  of  your  own  will, 
or  to  the  undisturbed  indulgence  of  your  own  indif- 
ference. If  we  could  lead  you  to  the  bedside  of  one 
of  the  many  who,  in  this  vast  parish,  are  yearly 
passing  from  time  into  eternity,  without  any  saving 
knowledge  of  him  to  whom  they  are  going,  such  a 
sight  would  preach  far  "  louder  than  a  thousand 
homilies,"  the  urgent  necessity,  while  in  full  pos- 
session of  your  health,  and  of  your  faculties,  of 
seeking  Him  who  alone  "  has  the  words  of  eternal 
life." 

You  do  not  know,  God  grant  you  never  may 
know,  by  experience,  the  miseries  of  the  chamber 
of  sickness,  when  unillumined  by  the  rays  of  the 
gospel  of  peace  ;  the  agonies  of  a  dying  hour,  with 
the  great  work  of  salvation  left  undone.  A  God  to 
go  to,  but  no  Father — a  Judge,  but  no  Saviour — an 
eternity  opening  before  your  eyes,  but  no  heaven  in 
which  to  spend  it ! 

O !  to  whom  shall  you  go  at  that  hour,  if  you  do 
not  now  fly  to  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  find  par- 
don for  your  sins,  and  peace  for  your  souls  ? 


LECTURE  III. 


259 


Rest  not,  then,  we  urge  you,  by  all  the  hopes 
and  fears  of  a  blissful  or  miserable  eternity,  rest  not 
upon  an  undefined  expectation  of  God's  mercy, 
without  having  approached  him  through  that  Re- 
deemer who  is  the  only  "  way"  which  mercy  has 
ordained.  Be  not  content  with  any  thing  short  of 
this  experience  of  the  Apostle,  "  that  you  believe 
and  are  sure,"  that  the  Saviour  of  sinners  is  indeed 
your  Saviour,  that  his  offers  are  accepted,  his  merits 
pleaded,  his  righteousness  applied,  his  commands 
obeyed  by  you,  according  to  the  grace  which  is 
given  unto  you,  that  all  these  things  are  truly  yours, 
even  as  you  "  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's." 


260 


} 

LECTURE  IV. 


LECTURE  IV. 

MATT.  XVI.  22. 

"  Then  Peter  took  him,  and  began  to  rebuke  him,  saying,  Be 
it  far  from  thee,  Lord,  this  shall  not  be  unto  thee." 

So  deep  is  the  corruption  of  our  nature,  and  so 
frequent  the  waywardness  of  our  will,  that  we  are 
never  more  liable  to  fall  into  sin,  than  when  upon 
the  highest  pinnacle  of  spiritual  elevation.  Have 
we  experienced  much  of  the  divine  presence  in 
the  hour  of  prayer,  we  scarcely  rise  from  our 
knees  before  some  successful  temptation  reminds  us 
that,  notwithstanding  our  near  approach  to  the 
mercy-seat,  we  are  earth-born  sinners  still.  Have 
we  been  enabled  to  overcome  some  spiritual  enemy, 
to  resist  some  carnal  inclination,  to  minister  sucess- 
fully  to  the  necessities  of  some  poorer,  or  more 
ignorant  fellow-creature,  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  or 
self-complacency  too  often  succeeds  effort,  in  a 
manner  so  unexpected,  and  for  which  we  are  so 
little  prepared,  that  we  find  sin  has  mingled  with, 
and  ruined  the  duty,  almost  before  it  had  been  con- 


LECTURE  IV. 


261 


eluded.  Who  that  has  ever  looked  attentively  into 
his  own  heart  will  deny  this  ?  And  who  that  does 
not  deny  it,  will  scruple  to  confess,  with  anguish  of 
soul,  and  with  a  secret  aspiration  for  penitence  and 
pardon,  "  that  every  imagination  of  man's  heart  is 
only  evil  continually?" 

These  reflections  have  naturally  suggested  them- 
selves, from  a  review  of  that  portion  of  the  narra- 
tive in  which  we  are  at  present  engaged.  In  our 
last  Lecture,  we  beheld  Peter  deserving,  and  re- 
ceiving the  approbation  of  his  Saviour  for  his  as- 
tonishing confession  of  faith,  and  his  affecting 
demonstration  of  love.  We  are  now  to  see  him 
subjected  to  the  rebuke  of  his  Divine  Master,  for  an 
improper  exhibition  of  that  same  zeal  which  had 
lately  distinguished  him  in  so  honourable  a  manner 
above  his  fellows.  Our  Lord,  anxious  to  correct 
the  misapprehension  of  his  followers  upon  the  ten- 
dency of  his  mission,  and  the  nature  of  his  king- 
dom, endeavoured  to  prepare  their  minds  for  the 
ignominy  and  suffering  which  shortly  awaited  him. 
"  From  that  time  forth,"  as  we  read  in  the  16th 
chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  "  began  Jesus  to  show 
unto  his  disciples,  how  that  he  must  go  unto  Jeru- 
salem, and  suffer  many  things  of  the  elders,  and 
chief  priests,  and  scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  be 


262  LECTURE  IV. 

raised  again  the  third  day.  Then  Peter,"  Peter 
always  foremost  either  in  good  or  ill,  "  took  him, 
and  began  to  rebuke  him,  saying,  Be  it  far  from 
thee,  Lord,  this  shall  not  be  unto  thee ;"  or,  as  the 
marginal  reading  gives  it,  "  Pity  thyself,"  O  Lord, 
spare  thyself !  The  affectionate  heart  of  the  apostle 
could  not  bear  the  thought  of  such  indignity  and 
such  suffering,  awaiting  the  Master  whom  he  loved, 
and  his  impetuous  temper  could  not  brook  in  silence 
to  hear  of  it,  although  foretold  by  that  Master  him- 
self, and  declared  that  "thus  it  must  be." 

Upon  no  other  occasion  did  our  Lord  so  deeply 
resent,  or  so  severely  reprove,  the  trangression  of 
an  apostle.  "  He  turned,  and  said  unto  Peter,  Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan ;  thou  art  an  offence  unto 
me,  for  thou  savourest  not  the  things  that  be  of 
God,  but  those  that  be  of  men." 

Perhaps  the  first  feeling  excited  in  our  minds,  by 
this  reproof,  is  rather  a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction. 
We  are  almost  tempted  to  complain,  that  the  punish- 
ment was  disproportioned  to  the  offence.  Our 
hearts  plead  for  Peter,  and  we  cannot  bear  to  see 
him  in  disgrace.  But,  my  brethren,  the  only  method 
in  which  fairly  to  estimate  the  criminality  of  the  ad- 
vice, is  to  follow  it  out  into  action,  and  then  to  mark 
its  tremendous  consequences.    Our  Lord  checked 


LECTURE  IV. 


263 


midway  in  his  career  of  suffering ;  that  was  the 
advantage  proposed.  Man's  redemption  unpur- 
chased, would  have  been  the  inevitable  result ;  the 
everlasting  doors,  unopened  ;  and  the  great  enemy 
of  souls,  who  had  overcome  the  first  Adam,  triumph- 
ing, for  ever  triumphing,  over  the  broken  promises, 
and  the  unsuccessful  mission  of  the  second.  These 
were  the  results  for  which  Peter,  however  unwit- 
tingly, was  pleading.  Can  we  be  surprised,  there- 
fore, that  at  such  a  moment  our  Lord  should 
recognise  in  the  advice  of  his  disciple,  only  the 
evil  suggestions  of  Satan  himself? 

My  brethren,  there  is  a  word  of  counsel,  a  word 
of  warning,  Which  by  God's  grace  may  be  profi- 
table to  us  all.  What  was  the  origin  of  Peter's 
error?  It  was  not  merely  the  abundance  of  his 
love  for  his  Divine  Master ;  this  will  never  lead  us 
into  sin,  never  be  imputed  to  us  as  our  guilt :  never 
therefore,  could  have  drawn  forth  so  deeply  cutting 
a  reproof.  Be  assured  that  there  was  more  than 
met  the  ear  of  man  in  Peter's  counsel ;  there  was 
a  root  of  bitterness,  unseen  by  human  eye,  but 
clearly  discerned  and  obviously  laid  open  by  our 
Lord  when  he  said,  "  thou  savourest  the  things  that 
be  of  men."  That  was  the  head  and  front  of  his 
offending.    The  fear  of  men,  the  love  of  men,  the 


264 


LECTURE  IV. 


good  opinion  of  men,  worldliness  in  its  most  de- 
structive form,  had  struck  its  fibres  into  Peter's 
heart:  and  had  they  not  been  thus  at  once  eradi- 
cated by  the  great  Husbandman,  they  would  soon 
have  taken  root  downwards,  and  borne  fruit  up- 
wards, a  prolific  and  a  deadly  harvest. 

Peter  had  dreamed  so  long  of  a  temporal  king- 
dom, of  earthly  grandeur  and  promotion,  that  the 
painful  sounds  of  suffering  and  death  grated  harsh- 
ly upon  his  ears;  and  while  urging  his  Master  to 
escape  them,  it  is  too  probable  that  some  little  hope 
was  lingering  in  his  bosom,  that  what  was  evaded 
by  the  master,  would  not  be  required  of  the  dis- 
ciple; that  if  these  sufferings,  and  degradations, 
were  put  away  from  Christ,  they  would  not  be  pre- 
pared for  Peter.  Our  Lord,  therefore,  has  left  this 
pointed  reproof  of  one  of  the  dearest  of  his  fol- 
lowers, for  ever  upon  record,  that  no  future  believer 
may  indulge  a  hope  that  he  shall  be  held  guiltless 
where  Peter  was  rebuked  ;  that  if  from  worldly  con- 
siderations, you  be  led  to  compromise  the  honour  of 
God,  to  prefer  in  your  own  case,  or  to  recommend 
in  the  case  of  others,  the  soft  and  easy  path  of  safety 
in  preference  to  the  sterner  and  more  rugged  walk 
of  duty,  whatever  be  the  alleged  or  the  real  motive, 
which  dictates  such  a  choice,  you  are  from  that  mo- 


LECTURE  IV. 


265 


ment  "  an  offence,"  an  adversary  to  him  whom  you 
profess  to  follow. 

How  important  a  consideration  to  every  one 
among  us!  Where  is  the  believer,  whom  Satan 
does  not,  at  some  period  of  the  spiritual  course, 
piy  with  temptations  similar  to  this?  To  the  more 
advanced  Christian,  it  may  not,  perhaps,  be  a  fre- 
quent method  of  successful  assault;  but  to  the 
younger  of  my  hearers  I  would  particularly  apply 
the  case  in  question.  Is  there  no  friend  without, 
no  faithless  counsellor  within,  who,  when  he  beholds 
you  really  determined  by  God's  grace,  to  do  or  to 
suffer  all  that  the  revealed  word  of  God  demands, 
is  apt  to  whisper  in  your  ear,  "  This  be  far  from 
thee,"  this  cannot  be  required  of  thee?  Or  when 
you  clearly  distinguish,  from  the  light  of  the  divine 
word,  that  the  religion  which  you  profess  has  ever 
been,  and  is  intended  ever  to  be,  a  self-denying  re- 
ligion ;  when  you  see  around  you  practices  and 
habits  which  you  are  convinced  are  utterly  incon- 
sistent with  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ: 
and  when  you  endeavour,  by  God's  grace,  to  sepa- 
rate from  these  things,  and  to  walk  more  worthy 
of  the  vocation  wherewith  he  has  called  you,  do 
you  never  receive  counsel  such  as  this — do  you 
never  hear  the  insidious  voice,  perhaps,  from  your 
23 


266 


LECTURE  IV. 


own  friends,  perhaps  from  your  own  family,  "  Pity 
thyself,  spare  thyself;"  "Be  not  righteous  over- 
much ?"  Is  this  language  not  utterly  unknown  to 
you,  my  brethren  ?  Then  be  assured,  by  whom- 
soever spoken,  that  it  is  the  language  of  an  adver- 
sary, the  voice  of  Satan,  an  injury  to  your  souls, 
"  an  offence"  to  your  Saviour.  Be  warned  by  the 
words  of  Christ  himself,  that  whatever  would  keep 
you  back  from  an  unshrinking  fulfilment  of  all 
God's  commandments,  from  an  entire  devotedness 
to  follow  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  even  with  the  cross 
upon  your  shoulders,  upon  the  path  of  painful  duty, 
stands  self-condemned  by  these  words  of  your  Re- 
deemer ;  for  such  advice  "  savoureth  not  the  things 
which  be  of  God,  but  the  things  which  be  of  men." 
This  is  the  test,  to  which  we  would  urge  you  to 
bring  every  counsel  you  receive,  every  advice 
which  may  be  offered,  "  to  the  law  and  to  the 
testimony ;  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this 
word,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them." 

Whatever  savours  of  the  things  which  be  of 
men,  that  is  to  say,  whatever  rule  of  conduct  has 
for  its  foundation,  the  desire  of  propitiating  the 
favour,  or  averting  the  opposition  of  men ;  what- 
ever is  founded  upon  the  ungodly,  though,  alas ! 
too  fashionable  doctrine  of  expediency,  or  worldly 


LECTURE  IV. 


267 


policy,  with  no  reference  to  the  will,  or  the  honour, 
of  God,  is  unscriptural,  unholy,  and  unsafe.  It 
may,  for  a  time,  have  fewer  crosses,  and  less  anx- 
ieties: you  may  congratulate  yourself,  upon  your 
wisdom  and  your  prudence ;  but  be  assured,  that 
the  end  will  be  bitterness  and  vexation  of  spirit. 
Better,  infinitely  better,  to  take  up  at  once  the 
cross,  to  bear  the  opprobrium,  to  become,  if  need- 
ful, a  by-word  and  a  reproach,  than,  by  a  constant 
succession  of  timid,  temporizing  efforts,  always 
shrinking  from  the  confession  of  your  real  feelings, 
always  attributing  your  refusal  of  sinful  enjoyments 
to  any  motive  but  the  true  one,  to  suffer  the  men  of 
this  world,  as  David  says,  "  foolishly  to  think  that 
vou  are  even  such  an  one  as  themselves;"  or  worse 
than  this,  to  remain  so  long  "  halting  between  two 
opinions,"  that  when  at  last  the  book  of  life  be 
opened,  you  shall  too  late  discover,  that  your  name 
is  not  enrolled  therein ;  that  you  have  never  been 
decidedly  with  the  Saviour,  and  that  therefore  he 
has  pronounced  you  to  be  against  him;  that  as  you 
have  not  suffered  with  him,  so  neither  shall  you  be 
glorified  together. 

The  course  of  the  history  in  which  we  are  en- 
gaged, has  now  brought  us  to  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  incidents  in  the  life  of  our  Lord — his 


268 


LECTURE  IV. 


transfiguration;  the  particulars  of  which  astonish- 
ing event,  are  thus  related  :  "  It  came  to  pass  that 
Jesus  taketh  with  him  Peter,  and  James,  and  John." 
All  the  disciples  were  not  to  be  thus  highly  favoured. 
Our  Lord  had  selected  these  three ;  and  if  we  in- 
quire why  these,  in  preference  to  the  remainder, 
it  was  doubtless,  because  as  they  alone  were  soon 
to  be  the  witnesses  of  his  dreadful  agony  in  the 
garden,  the  most  touching  proof  of  the  reality, 
and  infirmity  of  the  manhood  of  Christ,  they  su- 
pereminently required  this  strongest  evidence  of 
the  truth  of  his  divinity. 

Jesus,  then,  taking  Peter,  James,  and  John, 
"went  up  into  a  mountain  to  pray;"  yes,  great 
and  unquestionable  as  was  the  inherent  power  of 
our  divine  Saviour,  every  mighty  work  which  he 
performed  on  earth,  was  ushered  in  by  prayer. 
Was  he  to  be  announced  at  his  baptism  as  the  be- 
loved Son  %  we  are  told  it  was  "  while  Jesus  was 
praying  that  the  heavens  opened  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  descended."  Was  he  about  to  ordain  his 
apostles  ?  "  he  continued  all  night  in  prayer  to 
God."  Did  he  intend  to  spend  the  day  in  preach- 
ing? we  read,  that,  "rising  up  a  great  while  be- 
fore day,  he  departed  into  a  solitary  place,  and 
there  prayed."    Did  he  design  to  encourage  the 


LECTURE  IV. 


269 


falling  apostle  1  "I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy 
faith  fail  not."  Did  he  seek  consolation  for  him- 
self? "  being  in  an  agony,  he  prayed  more 
earnestly."  Thus  was  it  also  in  the  instance  we 
are  considering.  "  As  he  prayed,  the  fashion  of 
his  countenance  altered,  and  his  face  did  shine 
as  the  sun,  and  his  raiment  was  white  as  the 
light." 

You  will  observe,  it  was  "  as  he  prayed."  O ! 
my  brethren,  how  wonderfully  does  God  honour 
prayer  !  Not  a  blessing  does  he  promise,  except  in 
answer  to  humble,  fervent,  faithful  prayer.  He 
who  had  appointed  that  all  these  glories  should  be 
manifested,  to  exalt  the  Saviour  in  the  eyes  of  his 
people,  appointed  also  that  even  he,  the  eternal  Son 
himself,  should  for  our  sakes  ask  for  them. 

What  can  you  then  expect  to  receive  at  the 
hands  of  God  unasked  for !  Not  even  a  con- 
tinuance of  temporal  mercies,  of  the  garments 
which  wax  old,  or  of  the  bread  which  perisheth : 
and  if  not  of  this  poor  pittance,  which  our  heavenly 
Father  bestows  on  you,  in  common  with  the  beasts 
that  perish,  still  less  can  you  expect  to  receive,  un- 
sought, the  bread  of  life,  the  garment  of  salvation. 
Be  assured  then  of  this,  my  beloved  brethren,  that 
if  you  ever  hope  to  be  the  object  of  the  transform- 
23* 


270 


LECTURE  IV. 


ing  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  is  by  prayer  that 
you  must  seek  it;  never  do  his  blessed  influences 
so  fill,  and  renovate,  and  spiritualize  the  soul,  as  in 
the  hour  of  prayer ;  never  are  you  so  closely 
assimilated  to  that  glorified  state  which  awaits  you, 
as  when  you  are  enabled  to  draw  near  in  secret 
communion  to  the  mercy-seat,  and,  raised  for  a 
time  above  earth,  and  its  concerns,  feel  and  speak, 
and  think,  almost  in  the  language  and  the  thoughts 
of  heaven. 

"  And  behold  there  talked  with  him,  two  men, 
which  were  Moses  and  Elias,  who  appeared  in 
glory." 

It  was  not  enough  that  our  Lord,  thus  transformed 
and  glorified,  presented  himself  before  his  disciples; 
he  also  called  into  his  presence,  these  two  of  the 
most  eminent  of  his  departed  servants — Moses, 
who  had  long  since  gone  the  way  of  all  flesh,  and 
seen  corruption  ;  and  Elijah,  who  had  passed  out 
of  time  into  eternity,  but  never  tasted  death. 
Could  a  more  convincing  proof  have  been  offered 
that  Christ  was  the  King  of  quick  and  dead,  and 
that  "  all  live  to  him,"  than,  that  while  thus  silting 
as  a  sovereign,  in  his  robes  of  state,  he  should  re- 
ceive this  splendid  embassy  from  the  land  of 
spirits?    Could  a  more  instructive  spectacle,  a 


LECTURE  IV. 


271 


more  satisfying  evidence  of  the  possibility  of  the 
general  resurrection,  and  the  general  judgment, 
have  been  presented  to  the  eyes  of  the  astonished 
disciples,  than  these  two  most  appropriate  represen- 
tatives of  those,  who  in  the  graves  shall  one  day 
hear  the  voice  of  Christ,  and  shall  come  forth,  and 
of  those  wTho  shall  be  alive  at  his  coming,  and 
shall  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air,  and  receive  their 
appointed  sentence  ? 

Truly  it  was  a  sight,  which  had  it  only  passed 
before  the  eyes  of  the  apostles  with  a  momentary 
brilliancy,  and  disappeared,  would  have  well  re- 
paid for  years  of  earthly  trouble;  but  there  is 
something  still  untold — this  supernatural  visit  did 
not  pass  in  silence:  the  disciples  not  only  saw  these 
bright  ones,  but  heard  the  heavenly  music  of  their 
voice. 

And  upon  what  subject  did  they  descant  ?  what 
could  be  of  sufficient  interest  to  engage  the  tongues 
of  these  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  ? 

Did  they  converse  upon  the  greatness  of  the 
Saviour's  majesty,  or  the  glories  of  his  kingdom ; 
upon  the  blessed  company  they  had  left,  or  the 
holy  and  happy  service  in  which  eternity,  to  them 
begun,  was  rolling  on  its  blissful  way  ?  Nothing  of 
all  this  engaged   these   holy  visitants.     "  They 


272 


LECTURE  IV. 


spake,"  says  the  evangelist,  of  "  his  decease,  which 
he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem." 

Doubtless,  for  the  merciful  purpose  of  reconcil- 
ing the  minds  of  the  apostles  to  that  tremendous 
scene,  of  which  they  were  so  shortly  to  become 
the  painful  witnesses.  These  heavenly  visiters  de- 
sired to  know  nothing,  to  speak  of  nothing,  during 
their  short  return  to  earth,  but  "  Jesus  Christ,  and 
him  crucified !"  How  wonderful  a  tribute  to  this 
unutterably  high  and  holy  subject !  "  To  the  Jews, 
a  stumbling-block,  to  the  Greeks,  foolishness ;"  to 
the  nominal  Christian,  weariness ;  but  to  the  church 
of  the  first-born  assembled  in  heaven,  the  one  great 
subject  which  engages  every  tongue,  brightens 
every  eye,  fills  every  heart.  And  shall  we,  my 
brethren,  discard  this  sacred  theme,  this  mystery 
of  mysteries,  which  immortal  angels  desire  to  look 
into,  and  glorified  saints  rejoice  to  speak  upon! 
Lamentable  is  it  for  the  church  of  God,  lamentable 
for  those  who  preach  and  those  who  hear,  when 
the  pride  of  worldly  wisdom  raises  them  above 
these  humbling  truths,  and  when  a  system  of  cold 
morality,  assumes  the  place  of  this  theme  of 
heavenly  love.  And  lamentable  is  it  also,  my 
Christian  brethren,  when  any  subject,  be  it  what  it 
may,  usurps  the  place  of  this  one  momentous 


LECTURE  IV. 


273 


truth ;  aye,  even  when  the  elevating  suhject  of 
Christ  glorified  obtains  an  undue  pre-eminence, 
above  the  saving  subject  of  "  Christ  crucified,"  a 
theme  of  which  eternity  itself  shall  not  grow 
tired  :  for  even  among  the  spectacles  of  heaven, 
we  read  of  "  the  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain  ;n  even 
among  the  songs  of  heaven,  we  hear  the  reiterated 
chorus,  "  Thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to 
God  by  thy  blood;''  even  there  is  the  recollection 
of  the  cross  of  Christ  which  adds  unspeakably  to 
the  lustre  of  his  crown. 

Continuing  the  narrative,  we  find  that  no  sooner 
did  the  disciples  behold  this  splendid  company,  than 
"  Simon  Peter  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord,  it  is  good  for 
us  to  be  here."  Yes,  even  the  natural  heart  can 
appreciate  this ;  it  is  good  to  be  present  during  a 
vision  of  glory,  far  better  than  to  hear  of  suffering 
humiliation,  and  death.  "  If  thou  wilt,  let  us  make 
three  tabernacles,  one  for  thee,  one  for  Moses,  and 
one  for  Elias."  St.  Luke  adds  to  this  account  of  it, 
that  Peter  said  this,  "  not  knowing  what  he  said." 
Surely  he  could  not  have  known  what  he  said, 
when  he  thus  proposed  that  the  citizens  of  heaven 
should  once  more  become  "  strangers  and  pilgrims 
upon  earth  :"  he  could  not  have  known  what  he 
said,  when  he  offered  a  temporary  tabernacle  of 


274 


LECTURE  IV. 


man's  erecting,  as  a  residence  for  those  who  dwelt 
within  the  walls  of  that  "  city,  whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God."  Here,  then,  again  the  zealous 
Peter  "spake  unadvisedly  with  his  lips;"  for  be  ye 
sure,  my  brethren,  that  there  is  not  one  resident  in 
the  courts  above,  who  would  return  to  earth  for  the 
most  glorious  of  worldly  portions,  or  even  for  the 
dearest  of  earthly  friends.  The  language  of  the  low- 
est saint  in  that  blessed  place  unquestionably  is,  "I 
would  rather  be  a  door-keeper  in  the  house  of  my 
God,"  than  to  dwell  in  the  proudest  palaces,  or  rule 
the  richest  kingdoms  upon  earth.  When,  in  some 
moment  of  deep  and  heartfelt  regret  for  those  who 
have  gone  before  us  to  their  rest,  we  are  tempted, — 
and  who  is  not  so  tempted  ? — almost  to  desire  that  our 
departed  friends  might  again  revisit  us,  might  again 
"  take  sweet  counsel  together,  and  go  up  with  us  to 
the  house  of  God  as  friends,"  or  unite  their  voices  to 
ours  in  prayer  and  praise,  and  once  more  take  up 
a  temporary  abode  in  earthly  tabernacles,  we  in- 
deed "  know  not  what  we  say." — "  It  is  good  for  us 
to  be  here :"  blessed  for  us,  who  are  at  present 
"  living  by  faith,  not  by  sight,"  to  enjoy  these  im- 
perfect communications  with  our  God,  to  be  "  upon 
the  Mount,"  and  approach  as  near  to  heaven,  as 
this  state  of  imperfection  will  admit;  but  what 


LECTURE  IV. 


275 


would  even  the  highest  of  these  enjoyments  be  to 
those  blessed  spirits,  who  now  see  God's  face  in 
righteousness,  and  know,  even  as  they  are  known  ? 
O  if  you  hope  that  you  have  one  friend,  one  rela- 
tive in  those  blissful  scenes,  instead  of  unavailing  re- 
grets for  their  absence,  or  desires  for  their  return, 
be  more  unceasingly  earnest,  more  devotedly  per- 
severing, in  following  them,  even  as  they  followed 
Christ;  always  bearing  in  mind  the  consolatory  as- 
surance, that  you  may  go  to  them,  though  they 
cannot  return  to  you.  Wait  but  a  little  while, 
and  the  services  of  the  heavenly  temple,  will  be 
open  to  yourselves,  and  you  shall  again  unite  with 
those  you  love  in  praises  which  shall  not  weary, 
and  in  a  worship  which  shall  never  cease. 

But  we  must  briefly  conclude  this  instructive 
subject :  "  While  Peter  yet  spake,  behold  a  voice 
out  of  the  cloud,  which  said,  This  is  my  beloved 
Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased,  hear  ye  him. 
And  when  the  voice  was  passed,  Jesus  was  found 
alone."  How  glorious  a  testimony  from  God  him- 
self, to  the  pre-eminence  of  the  "  beloved  Son !" 
Moses  and  Elias  are  overshadowed  bv  the  bright 
cloud,  and  vanish  from  the  sight,  but  Christ  remains! 
The  law  and  the  prophets  yield  to  the  far  clearer 
and  more  glorious  dispensation  of  the  Gospel. 


276 


LECTURE  IV. 


The  veil  which  had  long  been  drawn  over  this 
great  truth,  is  for  ever  thrown  aside,  and  Jesus  stands 
confessed  "  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,  the  King 
of  kings,  and  the  Lord  of  lords  !" 

"  Hear  ye  him,"  was  the  death-note  of  the  old 
dispensations,  as  they  passed  into  oblivion. 

"  Hear  ye  him,"  is  the  inspiring  cry  of  the  church 
militant,  as  she  goes  on  her  way  warring  and  tra- 
vailing upon  earth. 

"  Hear  ye  him,"  will  form  a  portion  of  the  chorus 
of  the  church  triumphant,  when,  having  "  overcome 
by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,"  she  shall  sit  down  an 
honoured  and  a  glorious  bride,  at  the  everlasting 
table  of  the  Lord. 

How  can  we,  then,  your  fellow-labourers,  and 
"  helpers  of  your  joy,"  leave  a  more  hallowed 
sound  upon  your  ears?  what  more  valuable  admo- 
nition, can  we  pray  the  blessed  Spirit  of  God,  to 
carry  home  to  your  hearts,  than  these  words  of  the 
great  Jehovah  himself,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son, 
hear  ye  him  ?" 

That  you  may  so  hear  that  adorable  Redeemer, 
as  to  believe,  receive,  and  obey  him,  may  God  of 
his  infinite  mercy  grant  ! 


LECTURE  V. 


277 


LECTURE  V. 

MATT.  XIX.  27. 

M  Then  answered  Peter,  and  said  unto  him,  Behold,  we  have 
forsaken  all,  and  followed  thee ;  what  shall  we  have  there- 
fore ?" 

An  abundance  of  this  world's  goods  has  been  in 
all  ages  among  the  greatest  impediments  to  a  con- 
sistent following  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Seldom 
in  the  days  of  his  earthly  sojourn,  do  we  read  that 
the  rich,  or  the  mighty,  or  the  noble,  were  called 
into  his  kingdom.  "  Have  any  of  the  rulers  be- 
lieved in  him  V9  was  the  triumphant  inquiry  by 
which,  in  the  early  infancy  of  the  Gospel,  its  fol- 
lowers were  shamed  into  silence.  It  was  to  the 
poor  especially  that  the  Gospel  was  preached  ;  it 
was  from  the  ranks  of  the  poor  and  the  destitute 
that  many  were  chosen,  "  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of 
the  kingdom  ;"  and  while  the  Saviour  of  the  world 
was  despised  by  the  great  and  rejected  by  the 
wealthy,  he  daily  partook  of  the  poor  man's  fare, 
lodged  in  the  poor  man's  dwelling,  and  selected 
24 


278 


LECTURE  V. 


from  the  poor  man's  kindred,  the  companions  of  his 
ministry,  and  the  promulgators  of  his  Gospel. 

In  the  19th  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  we  have  an 
interesting  account  of  our  Lord's  conversation  with 
a  young  and  wealthy  ruler,  who  appeared  desirous 
of  embracing  the  new  religion  ;  he  was  contented 
patiently  to  listen  to  our  Lord's  injunction,  "  Keep 
the  commandments,"  because  he  vainly  flattered 
himself  that  his  character  was  unimpeachable ;  but  no 
sooner  did  he  hear  the  words,  "  Sell  what  thou  hast 
and  follow  me,"  than  we  are  told,  "  he  went  away 
sorrowful,  for  he  had  great  possessions."  Then 
said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples,  "  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  that  a  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."  You  who  are  labouring  unremit- 
tingly to  "  join  house  to  house,  and  lay  field  to  field," 
without  a  thought  or  a  desire  beyond  (he  attainment 
of  these  perishable  possessions,  learn  from  the  lips 
of  your  Redeemer  the  true  nature  of  the  work  in 
which  you  are  engaged.  You  are  merely  assisting 
the  great  enemy  of  your  souls,  in  forging  those  gold- 
en chains,  with  which  he  binds  you  to  his  cruel  ser- 
vice. Difficult  as  the  work  of  salvation  unquestiona- 
bly is,  to  every  fallen  child  of  Adam,  to  the  rich,  and 
to  the  man  "  hastening  to  be  rich,"  the  difficulty  is 
infinitely  increased :  with  a  profusion  of  the  gifts  of 


LECTURE  Y. 


279 


God,  the  ungrateful  heart  of  man  becomes,  in  gene- 
ral, strangely  alienated  from  the  heavenly  Giver : 
with  an  earnest  desire  after  wealth,  comes  an  in- 
creasing indifference  to  spiritual  duties  and  spiritual 
privileges ;  with  an  attainment  of  wealth,  comes 
frequently  a  sordid  selfishness,  deadness  of  heart  to 
God,  coldness  to  the  brethren.  Few  Christians 
perish  from  the  cutting  winds  of  adversity,  many 
wither  and  fall  away  beneath  the  burning  sun  of 
prosperity.  Intimately  was  he  acquainted  with  the 
human  heart,  who  looking  round  upon  the  splendid 
mansion  of  his  friend,  and  remarking  the  exulting 
expression  of  his  countenance,  exclaimed,  "  Aye, 
these  are  the  things  that  make  a  death-bed  terrible?" 

Simon  Peter,  who  was  present  at  the  interview, 
upon  which  we  have  been  commenting,  no  sooner 
witnessed  the  departure  of  the  young  man,  and 
heard  our  Lord's  instructive  warning,  than,  as  we 
read,  he  answered  and  said  unto  Jesus,  "  Behold,  we 
have  forsaken  all,  and  followed  thee:  what  shall  we 
have  therefore  I" 

If  it  be,  and  who  will  deny  it  ?  a  most  difficult 
achievement  to  forsake  all  for  Christ,  this  inquiry 
of  Peter  will  convince  us,  that  it  is  even  yet  more 
difficult  to  do  it  with  simplicity  of  purpose  and  sin- 
gleness of  heart — to  suffer  no  intermingling  of  un- 


280 


LECTURE  V. 


worthy  motives  to  influence  us,  in  the  great  work 
of  dedicating  ourselves  to  God.  In  reference  to 
this,  watch  over  yourselves,  my  brethren,  with  a 
most  jealous  eye,  upon  every  step  of  the  Christian 
course ;  analyze  carefully  your  motives,  scrutinize 
your  intentions,  see  that  "the  recompense  of  the 
reward,"  especially  of  the  temporal  reward,  hold 
not  too  prominent  a  station  in  your  hearts  ;  if  you 
be  poor,  see  that  your  religious  duties  be  not  to  re- 
commend you  to  the  rich ;  if  young,  that  they  be 
not  to  attract  the  notice,  or  the  praise  of  men. 
Whatever  be  your  station,  whatever  be  your  age, 
let  your  prayer  and  your  effort  be,  to  follow  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  all  godly  sincerity,  with  a 
single  eye  to  his  glory,  and  an  utter  disregard  of 
every  thing  compared  with  the  one  attainment, 
which  alone  is  worthy  of  you,  the  approbation  of 
your  God. 

How  greatly  do  we  all  need  these  cautions  ;  for, 
alas !  how  prone  we  are  to  sully  every  effort  in 
the  cause  of  Christ  by  the  mixture  of  unholy  mo- 
tives, and  to  desecrate  every  offering  by  an  undue 
estimation  of  its  worth.  Observe  even  Peter,  the 
warm-hearted,  the  spiritually-minded  Peter,  unable 
to  restrain  those  natural  feelings,  which  would 
make  a  merit  of  the  smallest  act  of  self-denial  for 


LECTURE  V. 


281 


the  Lord's  sake.    "  Behold  !" — an  exclamation  of 
astonishment — "  we  have  left  all,  and  followed 
thee."    We  should  imagine,  that  the  man  who 
could  speak  thus,  had  come  from  palaces  of  cedar, 
and  laid  crowns  and  sceptres  at  the  feet  of  Jesus ! 
Who  would  believe,  that  a  paltry  fishing-boat  and 
its  mended  nets,  were  the  all  of  which  he  predi- 
cates so  largely?    Yet  this  is  constantly  the  man- 
ner in  which  men  speak  of  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of 
Christ.    However  trifling,  however  valueless,  some 
unjust  or  unholy  profit,  if  relinquished  at  the  com- 
mand of  God,  how  is  it  magnified  into  importance, 
amid  the  littlenesses  of  our  obedience  !    But  turn 
we  from  the  demand  of  Peter,  to  the  astonishing 
reply  of  his  indulgent  Master:  "  Verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  that  ye  which  have  followed  me,  in  the  regene- 
ration, when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the  throne 
of  his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones, 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel."    Observe,  my 
brethren,  how  immensely  disproportionate,  will  be 
the  rewards  of  heaven,  to  all  the  self-denials  and  ser- 
vices of  earth  !  Instead  of  the  forsaken  fishing-boats 
upon  the  sea  of  Galilee,  thrones  of  glory,  in  the  eter- 
nal kingdom  !  instead  of  the  seat  of  the  publican,  an 
assessorship  with  Christ !    Who  could  have  antici- 
pated such  a  reply  to  the  inquiry,  "  What  shall  we 
24* 


282 


LECTURE  V. 


have  therefore  V\  We  can  imagine,  that  the  heart 
of  Peter,  must  have  sunk  within  him,  under  a  sense 
of  utter  unworthiness,  when  he  heard  of  such  an 
unspeakably  splendid  return,  for  so  poor,  and  pitiful 
an  offering. 

O  !  my  brethren,  I  trust  that  the  heart  of  every 
one  among  you,  responds  to  this  feeling ;  reflect 
only  for  a  moment,  and  it  cannot  be  otherwise. 
When  you  have  forsaken  all  for  God,  what  have 
you  sacrificed? — Some  paltry  gratification,  which 
perishes  in  the  using.  When  you  have  given  up 
your  whole  soul  and  body  to  him,  what  have  you 
bestowed? — A  poor,  unworthy,  blemished  offering, 
which  after  all,  was  not  your  own,  but  his  who  had 
already  bought  it  with  a  most  costly  price.  When 
you  have  done  all  for  him,  what  are  you  at  your 
best  estate  1 — "  Unprofitable  servants,  who  have 
done  what  was  your  duty  to  do.''  Are  you  not 
ashamed  to  be  for  ever  talking  of  merits  and  re- 
wards, as  if  the  Most  High  were  your  debtor ;  as 
if  he  were  actually  enriched  by  a  few  indifferent 
prayers,  or  an  occasional  act  of  self-denial,  obe- 
dience, or  charity  ?  Does  it  never  occur  to  you 
that  the  condescension  and  forbearance  of  God 
are  infinitely  more  exercised,  by  the  acceptance 
of  such  imperfect  services,  than  your  obedience 


LECTURE  V. 


283 


is  magnified  by  the  performance  of  them ;  and 
that  your  debt  of  gratitude  to  God  is  therefore 
obviously  increased,  instead  of  cancelled,  by  such 
payments  as  these  I  We  cannot  picture  to  our- 
selves an  individual,  we  cannot  conceive  the  state 
in  which  that  man's  heart  must  be,  who  can  be- 
lieve that  standing  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  a  pardoned  sinner,  he  shall  demand  repay- 
ment for  his  sufferings,  and  his  services,  and  his 
charities  upon  earth  :  nay,  we  cannot  imagine 
one.  who,  when  he  shall  be  most  graciously  re- 
minded of  these  things  by  our  Lord,  shall  not 
rather  ask,  with  feelings  of  unaffected  surprise, 
*  Lord,  when  saw  I  thee  an  hungered  and  fed 
thee,  naked  and  clothed  thee,  a  stranger  and  took 
thee  in  ?"  Surely  then,  instead  of  demanding. 
What  shall  we  have  !  the  inquiry  of  a  grateful 
heart  will  be,  What  shall  we  do  ?  How  can  we 
more  promote  the  honour  and  glory  of  God  ?  How 
can  we  more  devote  ourselves,  our  time,  and  our 
substance,  to  him  who  is  "  not  only  able,  but  will- 
ing to  do  abundantly  for  us,  above  ail  that  we  can 
ask  or  think  ?" 

Bui  while  we  feel  it  thus  a  duty,  to  discountenance 
an  over-anxious  estimation  of  our  own  imperfect 
offerings,  it  is  truly  encouraging  to  observe  in  the 


284 


LECTURE  V. 


passage  before  us,  that  our  gracious  Redeemer  is 
not  unmindful  of  them.  No  sooner  has  he  revealed 
the  paramount  degrees  of  blessedness  awaiting  his 
disciples,  than  clearly  to  demonstrate  that  his  re- 
wards should  be  as  numerous  as  his  servants,  and 
that  in  the  dispensation  of  his  gifts  none  should  be 
forgotten,  he  immediately  adds,  "  Verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  there  is  no  man,"  marking  that  the  blessing 
he  is  about  to  promise  should  not  be  limited  to  the 
apostles,  "  there  is  no  man  that  hath  left  house,  or 
brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife, 
or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  sake  and  the  Gospel's, 
but  he  shall  receive  an  hundred-fold  now  in  this 
time ;  houses,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  and  mo- 
thers, and  children,  and  lands,  with  persecutions, 
and  in  the  world  to  come  eternal  life."  If  then 
you  seek  assurance  of  your  reward,  behold  it  here ; 
but  observe  that  it  is  at  the  same  time  coupled  with 
the  assurance  of  suffering.  A  real,  heartfelt  recep- 
tion of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  may,  and  often  does, 
bring  with  it,  even  at  the  present  day,  a  species  of 
persecution — the  jeer,  the  taunt,  the  private  sar- 
casm, the  public  ridicule :  it  may  be  accompanied 
by  the  coldness  of  worldly  friends,  or  the  loss  of 
the  good  opinion  of  those  you  love ;  it  may  sepa- 
rate the  wife  from  the  husband,  the  child  from  the 


LECTURE  V. 


285 


parent,  not  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  the 
Gospel  of  peace,  but,  as  the  apostle  expresses  it, 
of  "  the  carnal  heart,  which  is  enmity  against 
God."  Our  Lord  well  knew,  that  these  would  in 
all  ages  be  amongst  the  most  painful  trials  of  his 
followers ;  and  therefore  he  left  on  record  this 
blessed  assurance  of  a  proportionate  reward,  and 
observe  how  admirably  adapted  to  the  necessities 
of  his  people. 

We  will  imagine  a  case  which  we  trust  is  not 
common  at  present,  but  which  we  fear  is  at  no 
time  positively  unknown.  Your  devotion  to  the 
commands  of  your  Redeemer,  your  desire  "  to  live 
godly  in  Christ  Jesus,"  no  longer  to  be  conformed 
to  this  world,  but  to  be  transformed  by  the  renew- 
ing of  your  mind,"  has  alienated  from  you  the  af- 
fections of  your  natural  counsellors  and  friends ; 
the  members  of  your  own  family  look  coldly  upon 
you ;  where  you  wrere  accustomed  to  meet  with 
kindness,  you  encounter  reproach,  and  in  the  bit- 
terness of  your  first  feeling  of  anguish,  you  are 
ready  almost  to  ask,  how  can  even  a  Saviour  re- 
compense me  for  these  things?  It  is  in  this  state 
of  mind  that  you  will  learn  to  appreciate  the  beau- 
tiful compensation  of  the  promise.  It  is  here,  on 
earth,  and  in  these  tender  relationships,  that  you 


286 


LECTURE  V. 


have  suffered  thus  acutely  for  the  sake  of  Christ; 
then,  independently  of  your  purchased  reward 
hereafter;  independently  of  the  real  joys  which 
even  here,  the  Saviour's  felt  and  acknowledged 
presence  will  bestow,  you  shall  be  abundantly 
recompensed.  For  every  relative  you  have  lost, 
for  every  friend  you  have  estranged  from  you, 
"you  shall  receive,"  says  our  Lord,  "an  hundred- 
fold now  in  this  present  time,  brethren,  and  sisters, 
and  mothers."  Those  who  bear  the  Saviour's 
image,  and  love  the  Saviour's  name,  love  also  the 
Saviour's  people,  and  will  be  to  you,  even  while 
on  earth,  more  affectionate,  more  valuable,  more 
endeared,  than  the  nearest  earthly  relative,  unin- 
fluenced by  these  spiritual  feelings,  could  have  ever 
been.  These  are  "  the  brethren,  and  sisters,  and 
mothers,"  who  shall  never  fail  you,  but  having 
gladdened  your  path  by  the  endearments  of  Chris- 
tian friendship  here  below,  shall  be  united  to  you 
yet  more  closely,  when  you  shall  together  "  shine 
forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  your  Father." 

The  next  incident,  to  which  I  shall  desire  your 
attention,  in  the  life  of  him  upon  whose  history  we 
are  commenting,  is  one  of  the  deepest  interest  to 
every  believer ;  one  in  which,  we  shall  find  Peter 
himself  not  so  much  a  speaker,  as  a  hearer,  sitting 


LECTURE  V. 


287 


at  the  feet  of  his  Divine  Master,  and  making  an  in- 
quiry upon  a  subject,  which  has  in  all  ages  deeply 
engaged  the  thoughts,  and  attentions  of  the  true 
Church  of  Christ ;  but  perhaps  at  no  one  period 
since  that  inquiry  was  made,  so  universally  as  at  the 
present.  We  are  informed,  in  the  24th  chapter  of 
St.  Matthew,  that  the  disciples,  filled  with  admira- 
tion at  the  architectural  magnificence  of  the  tem- 
ple, had  called  the  attention  of  our  Lord  to  its  beau- 
ties, and  in  reply,  that  he  had  forewarned  them  that 
the  time  was  coming,  when  "  there  should  not  be 
left  one  stone  upon  another,  which  should  not  be 
thrown  down."  The  inspired  historian  then  con- 
tinues :  "  As  Jesus  sat  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
the  disciples  came  unto  him  privately,  saying,  Tell 
us  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  and  what  shall  be 
the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end  of  the 
world  V  The  reply  to  the  former  of  these  inquiries, 
44  When  shall  these  things  be  V*  occupies  the  first 
twenty-eight  verses  of  the  chapter,  clearly  foretell- 
ing that  tremendous  visitation,  which  the  pages  of 
history  have  since  so  faithfully  verified.  Our  Lord 
then  answers  the  latter  question,  "  What  is  the  sign 
of  thy  coming  ?"  in  these  words ;  "  Immediately 
after  the  tribulation  of  those  days," — a  tribulation, 
be  it  remembered,  which,  though  it  commenced 


288 


LECTURE  V. 


with  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  has  not  even  yet 
run  the  whole  of  its  terrific  course — "the  sun  shall 
be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light, 
and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the  pow- 
ers of  the  heavens  shall  be  shaken,  and  then  shall 
appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven ;  and 
then  shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they 
shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven  with  power  and  great  glory." 

The  mind  in  its  present  state  of  imperfection, 
much  as  it  cannot  but  desire  to  see  the  day  of  the 
Son  of  man,  shrinks  from  the  scrutiny  of  such  a 
vision.  That  we  shall  all  one  day  behold,  face  to 
face,  the  Saviour  of  whom  we  now  speak,  and 
hear,  and  read,  and  think ;  that  we  shall  see  with 
our  own  eyes  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  the  mark 
of  the  spear ;  that  we  shall  indeed  look  upon  him, 
"  whom  having  not  seen,  we  love,"  is  as  certain  as 
the  promises  of  God  can  render  it — a  certainty  to 
which  the  heart  of  the  true  believer  turns  with  "joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory;"  and  never  does  he 
say,  "  thy  kingdom  come,"  without  rejoicing  that 
Time  is  winging  on  his  way  his  rapid  flight,  and 
hastening  the  wheels  of  his  chariot.  Most  naturally 
then  did  Peter  ask,  "  What  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy 
coming  V    Most  naturally  does  the  church,  as  if 


LECTURE  V. 


289 


with  one  voice  and  one  heart,  reiterate  the  inquiry. 
Upon  such  a  subject  we  would  not  presume  to  dog- 
matize ;  great  injury  has  been  already  done  to  the 
cause  of  truth,  and  to  the  minds  of  inquiring  Chris- 
tians, by  an  attempt  to  speak  plainly  and  positively, 
where  God  himself  has  intentionally  spoken  ob- 
scurely. We  doubt  not  that  "  the  day  of  the  Lord," 
come  when  it  may,  "  shall,"  to  the  many,  "  so  come 
as  a  thief  in  the  night;"  and  that  therefore,  when 
the  world  in  general  is  least  anticipating  it,  there  is 
the  greatest  probability  of  its  arrival.  But  of  this 
also  w7e  feel  assured,  that  as  no  great  event,  no  re- 
markable revolution  has  ever  happened  in  the  histo- 
ry of  the  world  without  having  been  distinctly  fore- 
seen by  many  reflecting,  thoughtful,  penetrating  in- 
tellects ;  so  no  great  event  has  happened,  or  ever 
will  happen,  in  the  church  of  Christ,  which  will  not 
have  been  "  looked  for  and  hastened  unto"  by  many 
among  his  prepared  and  expecting  people. 

We  would  say  therefore  to  you,  with  reference 
to  this  great  event,  what  our  Lord  has  said  unto  all, 

watch,"  "  for  ye,  brethren,  are  not  in  darkness, 
that  that  day  should  overtake  you  as  a  thief."  The 
book  of  prophecy  is  in  your  hands;  the  remarkable 
events  of  the  days  in  which  our  lot  is  cast,  are  form- 
25 


290 


LECTURE  V. 


ing  a  rapid  commentary  upon  the  most  ambiguous 
of  its  pages.  Suffer  not  these  things  to  be  without 
their  practical  influence  upon  your  hearts.  Fix  an 
humble  eye  upon  the  signs  of  the  times ;  search  the 
Scriptures  of  truth  with  reference  to  the  return 
of  your  Redeemer,  which,  from  the  continual  al- 
lusions to  it  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament, 
was  never  intended  to  be  overlooked  ;  and  although 
it  is  our  firm  conviction  that  you  will  not  find  suffi- 
cient evidence  to  attach  you  to  any  of  the  numer- 
ous theories  at  present  rife,  we  believe  you  will  find 
sufficient,  fully  sufficient,  to  make  you  seriously 
thoughtful,  sufficient  to  make  you  "seek"  more 
earnestly  "  those  things  which  are  above,  where 
Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God,"  and  more 
ardently  to  long,  and  more  faithfully  to  look,  for  "  the 
coming  of  the  son  of  man." 

In  conclusion,  let  me  endeavour  briefly,  but  prac- 
tically, to  apply  this  portion  of  the  subject.  Are 
you  my  brethren,  waiting  for  the  coming  of  your 
Lord  ?  Have  you  ever  considered  it  a  Christian's 
duty  to  make  this  inquiry?  Do  you  really  believe 
that  he  shall  come  ?  And  are  you  anxiously  expect- 
ing that  solemn  event?  As  Christians  you  assuredly 
are ;  you  read  it  in  your  Bibles,  you  acknowledge 
it  in  your  creeds.    Let  me  then  ask,  how  are  you 


LECTURE  V. 


291 


evincing  by  your  life  and  conversation,  that  this 
is  indeed  an  article  of  your  faith,  an  object  of  your 
hope  '? 

Observe  for  a  moment  the  manner  in  which  we 
act  under  similar  circumstances  in  the  common 
affairs  of  life.  The  friend  you  most  love  has  gone 
to  some  far-distant  clime,  but  he  has  promised,  to 
return ;  you  believe  his  promise,  the  time  is  fixed, 
and  is  unquestionably  certain,  but  he  has  not  men- 
tioned to  you  the  day.  During  the  interval,  in  what 
manner  do  you  conduct  yourselves  1  As  the  term  of 
his  long  absence  wears  away,  does  he  not  engross 
every  thought,  and  occupy  every  feeling,  and  form 
a  prominent  part  in  every  arrangement  \  You  re- 
collect every  thing  which  used  to  afford  him  plea- 
sure, and  you  prepare  it  for  his  reception ;  you  re- 
member every  thing  that  gave  him  pain,  and  you 
most  cautiously,  most  scrupulously  avoid  it  ;  you 
think  no  sacrifice  too  great,  no  recollection  too 
minute,  if  it  may  but  enable  you  to  minister  to  his 
delight,  and  to  gratify  him  on  his  arrival.  Your 
heart  is  so  occupied  with  his  promised  return,  that 
it  is  far  less  delightful  to  you  to  associate  with 
others,  than  to  think  of  and  remember  him.  Every 
morning  sees  you  at  the  throne  of  grace,  praying 
that  another  sun  may  not  set  before  your  anticipa- 


292 


LECTURE  V. 


tions  have  been  realized,  and  you  are  not,  you  can- 
not be  satisfied  with  any  thing  short  of  the  fulfil- 
ment of  this  prayer. 

Now,  my  Christian  brethren,  I  would  ask  you 
to  apply  this  to  the  state  of  your  minds  with  re- 
spect to  the  promised  return  of  your  Lord  ?  Do 
you  know  any  thing  of  such  feelings  as  these? 
Do  you  in  any  respect  so  feel,  and  so  think,  and 
so  act,  with  regard  to  his  arrival?  If  not,  what 
further  proof  do  we  require  that  either  you  do  not 
believe  him,  or  you  do  not  love  him  as  you  ought  ? 
If  you  believed  him,  you  would  live  as  those  who 
were  expecting  his  coming ;  if  you  loved  him,  you 
would  live  as  those  who  longed  for  it.  In  every 
act  of  your  life  there  would  be  a  reference  to  this 
wished-for  event.  In  your  most  sorrowing  hours, 
you  would  "  weep  as  though  you  wept  not ;"  and 
in  your  most  joyful  hours,  "  rejoice  as  though  you 
rejoiced  not;"  in  your  busiest  hours,  you  would 
"  buy  as  though  you  possessed  not ;"  and  every 
day  and  every  hour,  you  would  '<  use  this  world  as 
not  abusing  it."  You  would  be  careful  to  allow 
yourselves  in  no  posture  of  mind,  in  no  indulgence 
of  tempers,  in  no  occupations  or  amusements,  in 
which  you  would  blush  to  be  found  by  your  Lord. 

You  acknowledge,  you  cannot  but  acknowledge, 


LECTURE  V.  293 

that  all  this  is  perfectly  true  if  applied  to  the  return 
of  any  earthly  friend :  what  argument  then  will 
you  use  to  prove  that  it  does  not  and  ought  not  to 
be  applicable  to  the  return  of  that  "  friend  who 
sticketh  closer  than  a  brother?"  Will  you  say 
that  you  have  no  such  love  for  him,  who  so  loved 
you  as  to  give  himself  for  you;  that  the  Bible  re- 
quires no  such  love,  that  his  people  have  never  felt 
such  love,  that  you  cannot  be  expected  to  desire 
his  presence  with  the  same  feelings  with  which  you 
desire  the  presence  of  those  you  love  on  earth. 
So  saying,  you  would  only  demonstrate  that  at 
least  one  of  the  signs  of  our  Lord's  return  is  suffi- 
ciently  visible — "  the  love  of  many  shall  wax  cold." 
It  was  not  so  with  the  holy  men  of  old ;  it  was  not 
so  with  David,  for  he  expressly  said,  "  there  is  none 
upon  earth  whom  I  desire  in  comparison  of  thee." 
Although  the  mutual  love  between  him,  and 
Jonathan,  was  as  he  himself  expresses  it,  "  won- 
derful,  passing  the  love  of  women,"  it  was  as  no- 
thing, and  less  than  nothing,  in  comparison  of  his 
love  to  God.  In  this  love,  be  assured,  every  true 
child  of  God,  in  every  age,  has  partaken ;  in  this 
desire  for  the  Saviour's  return,  his  true  people  have 
in  all  ages  united ;  in  this  anxiety  to  keep  them- 
selves unspotted  from  the  world  against  his  wished- 
25* 


294 


LECTURE  V. 


for  coming,  all  his  redeemed  servants  sympathize. 
Try  then  the  state  of  your  spiritual  affections  by 
this  test ;  observe  what  would  be  the  effect  upon 
your  heart,  and  mind,  and  expectations,  if  you 
were  assured  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  was  even 
now  about  to  dawn  upon  you ;  if  the  reply  to  your 
inquiry,  "What  is  the  sign  of  thy  coming?"  were 
to  be,  "  Behold,  I  come  quickly,"  would  it  sound 
the  knell  of  your  departing  pleasures,  of  all  in 
which  your  hearts,  and  minds,  and  thoughts  are 
now  engaged ;  or  could  you  really  welcome  it  as 
the  fulfilment  of  every  prayer,  the  completion  of 
every  hope  ?  Could  you  reply  from  your  heart, 
"  even  so  come,  Lord  Jesus,"  this  is  the  hour  which 
I  have  prayed  for,  hoped  for,  lived  for,  "  even  so 
come,  come  quickly." 

This,  and  this  alone,  is  the  reply  of  those  who, 
with  their  loins  girded  and  their  lamps  burning, 
are  awaiting  for  the  return  of  their  Lord.  This, 
then,  be  assured,  is  the  reply  of  all  those  who  shall 
go  in  with  him  to  the  wedding,  and  shall  sit  down 
for  ever  at  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb. 
That  it  may,  therefore,  before  the  bright  advancing 
sign  of  the  Son  of  man  shall  be  seen  in  the  heavens 
before  he  shall  come  to  you,  or  you  shall  depart  to 
him,  be  the  heartfelt  reply  of  every  soul  here  pre- 
sent, may  God  of  his  infinite  mercy  grant ! 


LECTURE  VI. 


295 


LECTURE  VI. 

JOHN  XIII.  8. 

M  Peter  saith  unto  him,  Thou  shalt  never  wash  my  feet.  Jesus 
answered  him,  If  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  hast  no  part  with 
me." 

It  is  one  of  the  striking  peculiarities  of  the  method 
of  teaching  adopted  by  our  Divine  Master,  that  the 
truths  which  it  was  the  object  of  his  life  to  promul- 
gate were  not  elaborately  preached  in  a  series  of  con- 
tinuous discourses,  but  rather  incidentally  touched 
upon  in  some  striking  apothegm,  or  shadowed  forth 
under  some  significant  symbol.  Thus,  it  was  while 
sitting  upon  Jacob's  well,  that  our  Lord  so  beauti- 
fully discoursed  upon  "  that  well  of  water  which 
springeth  up  into  everlasting  life."  It  was  while 
looking  upon  "  the  fields  white  already  to  the  har- 
vest," that  he  so  strikingly  alluded  to  that  eternal 
harvest,  when  both  "  he  that  soweth  and  he  that 
reapeth  shall  rejoice  together."  It  was  when  the 
people  followed  him  for  the  bread  that  perisheth, 
that  he  delivered  one  of  the  most  instructive  of  his 
discourses  upon  "  the  living  bread  which  came 


296 


LECTURE  VI. 


down  from  heaven."  It  was  at  the  feast  of  taber- 
nacles, while  beholding  the  Jewish  ceremony  of 
pouring  forth  the  water  of  Siloam,  "  in  the  last  day, 
that  great  day  of  the  feast,  that  Jesus  stood  and 
cried,  saying,  if  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto 
me,  and  drink." 

In  the  incident  with  which  the  present  Lecture 
commences,  we  shall  find  an  additional  and  pecu- 
liarly beautiful  testimony  of  the  truth  of  this  remark, 
while  we  behold  our  Lord,  by  one  of  the  most 
significant  actions  of  his  life,  illustrating  one  of 
the  most  important  doctrines  in  his  Gospel.  We 
are  told  in  the  13th  of  St.  John,  that  at  the  supper 
which  took  place  before  the  feast  of  the  passover,  or 
rather  at  the  antepast,  for  it  is  evident  that  it  oc- 
curred upon  the  same  evening,  "  Jesus  laid  aside  his 
garments,  and  took  a  towel  and  girded  himself. 
After  that  he  poured  water  into  a  basin,  and  began 
to  wash  the  disciples'  feet,  and  to  wipe  them  with 
the  towel  wherewith  he  was  girded.  Then  cometh 
he  to  Simon  Peter,  and  Peter,"  whose  love  for  his 
divine  Master  could  but  ill  bear  to  behold  him  so 
servilely  employed,  "  said  unto  him,  Lord,  dost 
thou  wash  my  feet  ?  Jesus  said,  What  I  do  thou 
knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter." 
At  present  you  behold  only  the  act  itself,  mysterious 


LECTURE  VI. 


297 


and  unaccountable ;  hereafter  you  shall  be  fully 
satisfied  of  its  wise  and  merciful  intention. 

My  Christian  brethren,  surely  for  our  sakes  this 
was  written ;  for  us  and  for  our  children.  For 
will  not  your  own  experience  justify  me  in  saying, 
that  the  Lord  has  dealt  thus  upon  many,  and  most 
important  occasions  with  yourselves?  How  many 
an  act  of  your  gracious  Redeemer,  many  a  dark 
and  mysterious  providence  in  your  lives,  which 
was  once  utterly  unintelligible,  is  even  now  made 
clear  and  satisfactory  !  You  have,  for  instance,  been 
visited  with  unexpected  adversity;  your  situation 
in  life  is  changed  from  affluence  to  poverty ;  or 
your  trials  have  been  of  a  different  nature — you 
have  been  bereaved  of  those  dear  relatives,  and 
friends,  with  whom  your  tenderest  affections  were 
bound  up ;  and  this,  perhaps,  at  a  time  when  they 
were  most  valuable,  most  useful,  most  endeared. 
Some  of  you,  I  doubt  not,  have  lived  to  see,  that 
these  were  acts  of  wisdom,  and  of  mercy ;  and 
some,  perhaps,  though  fully  reconciled  to  the  blow, 
and  prostrated  in  the  dust  before  the  chastening 
visitation,  and  able  to  say  with  the  Shunammite  of 
old,  "  It  is  well,"  cannot  yet  discern  that  it  was 
love  which  held  the  rod  ;  to  you,  my  afflicted  bre- 
thren, your  gracious  Redeemer  at  this  day  speaks 


298 


LECTURE  VI. 


as  he  spoke  to  Peter,  "  What  I  do  thou  knowest 
not  noic,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter."  As  years 
roil  on,  if  you  are  a  child  of  God,  you  will  look 
back  not  only  with  contentment,  but  even  with 
gratitude,  upon  those  dark  and  trying  dispensa- 
tions ;  in  many  instances  it  will,  1  doubt  not,  be 
vouchsafed  to  you  even  here  to  distinguish  that  God 
has  done  all  things  wisely  and  mercifully,  and  that 
some  of  your  most  painful  trials  have  been  among 
your  choicest  blessings.  But  should  this  not  be 
given  to  you,  should  you  be  doomed  to  pass  not 
only  through  this  pilgrimage  state,  but  even  out  of 
it,  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  motive  of  your  severest 
chastenings,  rest  your  hearts  in  their  most  troubled 
hours  upon  this  gracious  declaration  of  your  Lord, 
"  Thou  shalt  k\ow  hereafter."  His  intentions 
will  not  be  for  ever  thus  hidden  from  his  children. 
In  infancy  the  child  takes  much  from  his  father 
upon  trust ;  as  he  grows  up,  it  is  the  parents  de- 
light to  explain  to  him  every  act  and  every  word. 
So  will  your  heavenly  Father  also  deal  with  you. 
All  shall  one  day  be  made  plain  to  you,  and  you 
shall  see  that  He  who  "  never  willingly  afflicts  or 
grieves  the  children  of  men,"  has  not  laid  upon 
you  one  cross,  has  not  inflicted  one  pang,  which  he 
could  with  safety  to  your  best  interests,  or  to  his 


LECTURE  VI.  299 

own  glory,  have  ventured  to  withhold.  Surely  it 
will  bring  an  increase,  even  to  the  joys  at  God's 
right  hand,  to  trace  out  the  paths  by  which  he 
carried  you  thither,  although  you  may  behold  them 
covered  with  thorns,  and  moistened  with  your  tears. 

But  we  must  return  to  the  incident  before  us. 
Peter,  unconvinced,  and  unsatisfied  by  our  Lord's 
explanation,  suffered  the  natural  impetuosity  of  his 
temper  to  render  him  even  more  peremptory  than 
before.  "  He  saith  unto  him,  Thou  shalt  never 
wash  my  feet.  Jesus  answered  him,  if  I  wash  thee 
not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  me."  Here  is  at  once 
the  key  to  the  mystery  before  us :  Jesus  literally 
washes  the  disciples'  feet,  to  signify  to  them  most 
impressively  that  they  need  him,  spiritually  to  wash 
and  purify  their  hearts. 

My  brethren,  a  more  important  declaration  was 
never  made  by  the  Saviour  of  the  world  than  that 
with  which  he  here  addresses  you.  "  If  I  wash 
thee  not,  thou  hast  no  part  with  me."  You  may  be 
the  members  of  the  visible  church  of  Christ,  you 
may  bear  the  name  of  Christ,  you  may  be  baptised 
with  a  Christian  baptism,  and  attend  upon  Christian 
ordinances ;  but  if,  in  the  sense  here  alluded  to,  you 
have  not  been  washed  by  Christ,  that  is,  cleansed 
from  the  guilt  of  your  sins  by  his  blood,  and  purified 


300 


LECTURE  VI. 


from  the  power  of  them  by  his  Spirit,  you  have  no 
part  in  his  atoning  sacrifice  now,  you  will  have  no 
place  in  his  kingdom  hereafter.  Most  solemnly  would 
I  urge  this  consideration  upon  your  consciences,  as 
one  of  the  most  deeply  important  that  can  engage 
them.  Thousands  are  living  in  grievous  error  upon 
this  point,  and  I  dare  not  hope,  that  none  of  you  are 
among  the  number.  If  there  be  but  one,  then  let 
me  obtain  his  serious  attention  while  I  thus  address 
him.  You  believe  that  you  are  safe,  because  you 
are  externally  a  member  of  a  truly  scriptural 
church,  and  a  regular  attendant  upon  her  valuable 
services.  As  the  handmaid  of  Christ  your  church 
is  invaluable,  and  she  is  well  able,  under  the  divine 
blessing,  instrumentally,  to  guide  your  path,  and  to 
support  your  footsteps,  from  the  time  when  she 
first  receives  you  into  her  fold,  "  a  child  of  God  and 
an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  until  the 
hour  when  she  speaks  her  parting  benediction,  and 
returns  her  "  hearty  thanks"  to  him,  in  wrhom  you 
have  believed,  that  he  has  taken  you  to  himself. 
But  if  you  put  her  in  the  place  of  your  Redeemer, 
if  you  are  seeking  that  at  the  hands  of  the  servant 
which  the  Master,  and  the  Master  only,  can  supply, 
you  will  find  too  late,  that  although  like  "  the  mixed 
multitude,"  who  went  up  with  the  true  Israel  of 


LECTURE  VI. 


301 


God  out  of  the  land  of  their  captivity,  you  may 
have  swelled  the  ranks  and  echoed  the  prayers  of 
his  people,  you  have  neither  part,  nor  lot,  in  the  pur- 
chased inheritance. 

"  If  I  wash  thee  not,"  are  the  words  of  our  Lord. 
"  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin 
be  assured  that  he  has  not  "  washed  you  from  your 
sins  in  his  blood,"  unless  you  have  gone  to  Him 
with  a  truly  penitent  heart,  humbly  confessing  your 
sins,  earnestly  desiring  pardon,  and  entirely  depend- 
ing upon  the  merits  of  his  sacrifice,  and  interces- 
sion, to  reconcile  you  to  God.  Now,  we  would 
solemnly  ask  you,  has  any  such  transaction  as  this 
ever  passed  between  God  and  your  soul  1  Have 
you  ever  been  led  to  see  the  guilt  and  the  heinous- 
ness  of  sin,  to  feel  the  plague  of  a  corrupt  heart, 
and  to  pray  for  its  removal  ?  Have  you  ever  been 
thus  made  the  subject  of  the  cleansing  efficacy  of 
the  blood  of  Christ,  and  of  the  transforming,  renew- 
ing influences  of  his  Spirit !  I  do  not  say,  can  you 
remember  the  day,  can  you  name  the  hour,  when 
such  a  change  was  effected  ?  There  may  be,  we 
are  all  well  aware,  much  enthusiasm  upon  this  sub- 
ject, but  O !  let  not  the  enthusiasm  of  others,  be  a 
cloak  for  your  coldness  and  indifference.  If  such  a 
change  as  this,  have  ever  taken  place  in  your 
26 


302 


LECTURE  VI. 


heart,  you  must  be  sensible  of  it.  It  is  too  momen- 
tous ever  to  be  forgotten.  "  A  man,"  says  Arch- 
deacon Paley,*  who  assuredly  was  no  enthusiast, 
u  might  as  easily  forget  his  escape  from  a  ship- 
wreck." Be  not  satisfied  then  until  you  have  ascer- 
tained this  great  truth  with  regard  to  your  own  soul ; 
search  narrowly,  probe  deeply,  see  whether  there 
be  "  in  you  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief,"  or  whether 
you  have  scriptural  grounds  for  believing  that  the 
u  blood  of  sprinkling  which  speaketh  better  things 
than  the  blood  of  Abel,"  has  been  applied  to  your 
conscience,  and  that  you  have  thus  been  washed  by 
Christ;  for  remember,  that  if  not,  the  word  of 
Christ  himself  is  passed,  that  "you  have  no  part 
with  him." 

Peter  now  convinced  by  the  declaration  which 
we  have  been  considering,  of  the  great  importance 
of  this  symbolical  action  of  our  Lord,  "  said  unto 
him,  Lord,  not  my  feet  only,  but  my  hands  and  my 
head."  His  prayer,  now  that  he  was  enabled  to 
understand  the  spiritual  meaning  of  the  act  in  which 
our  Lord  was  engaged,  resembled  the  prayer  of 
David,  "Lord,  wash  me  thoroughly  from  my 
iniquity,  and  cleanse  me  from  my  sins."  "Jesus 
saith  unto  him,  He  that  is  washed,  (or  as  it  might 

*  See  Paley's  Sermon  on  the  Doctrine  of  Conversion. 


LECTURE  VI. 


303 


have  been  rendered,  i  he  that  is  bathed,')  needeth 
not  save  to  wash  his  feet,  but  is  clean  every  whit." 
He  who  has  just  come  from  the  bath,  although  his 
feet  may  be  soiled  by  the  dust  upon  which  he  has 
trodden,  is,  in  other  respects,  clean  every  whit ;  or, 
applying  this  to  ourselves,  you  have  been  made  the 
subjects  of  the  cleansing  efficacy  of  the  blood  of  the 
41  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world," 
"  Ye  are  washed,  ye  are  sanctified,  ye  are  justified, 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of 
our  God."  You  therefore  need  not  to  be  again 
thus  washed,  again  justified ;  but  we  beseech  you, 
rest  not  upon  any  former  act  of  pardon,  let  not  the 
high  privilege  of  having  been  forgiven  all  trespasses, 
make  you  indifferent  to  your  continual  short-comings 
and  sins  ;  be  assured  that  you  do  still  unquestionably 
need  the  daily,  hourly  application  of  the  blood  of 
Christ,  for  the  cleansing  of  that  pollution,  which  is 
contracted  at  every  footstep  in  this  world  of  sin  : 
you  therefore  faithfully,  humbly,  and  penitently, 
must  also  continually  resort  to  "  the  fountain  opened 
for  sin  and  for  uncleanness,"  "  that  the  God  of  peace 
may  sanctify  you  wholly,  that  your  whole  spirit,  and 
soul,  and  body,  may  be  preserved  blameless  unto 
the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Our  Lord  having  performed  the  significant  ac- 


304 


LECTURE  Vr. 


tion,  upon  which  we  have  been  speaking,  and 
again  taken  his  place  at  the  table,  and  enlarged 
upon  the  great  Christian  duty  of  humility,  so  ob- 
viously taught  us  by  that  astonishing  instance  of 
it,  which  he  had  just  exhibited  proceeds  thus  to 
address  his  assembled  disciples ;  "  Verily,  verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  that  one  of  you  shall  betray  me." 
"  Then,"  says  the  inspired  historian,  "  the  disciples 
looked  one  on  another,  doubting  of  whom  he  spake. 
Now  there  was  leaning  on  Jesus'  bosom  one  of  his 
disciples  whom  Jesus  loved  ;  Simon  Peter  therefore 
beckoned  to  him,  that  he  should  ask  who  it  should 
be  of  whom  he  spake."  He  who  is  here  alluded 
to,  as  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  was,  as  we 
find  from  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  his  Gospel, 
St.  John :  he  it  was  to  whom,  as  possessing  so  high 
a  place  in  the  intimacy  and  affection  of  our  Lord, 
even  "  leaning  upon  his  bosom,"  Simon  Peter  ap- 
plied himself  to  obtain  an  answer  to  his  question. 

My  brethren,  would  you  inquire  any  thing  at  the 
hands  of  God  1  do  you  earnestly  desire  instruction 
and  guidance  ?  then  seek  an  interest  in  the  prayers 
of  those  who  are  admitted  to  the  closest,  communion 
with  God ;  they  can  ask  for  you,  many  things  that 
you,  through  ignorance  or  inability,  cannot  ask  for 
yourselves ;  for,  "  the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a 


LECTURE  VI. 


305 


righteous  man  availeth  much."  Above  all,  be  sure 
that  you  make  every  inquiry,  present  every  petition, 
through  the  intercession  of  that  friend  who  is  near- 
est to  the  throne  of  grace,  even  through  the  only- 
begotten  Son  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father ; 
all  that  he  asks  for  you  will  assuredly  be  obtained  ; 
for,  if  "the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous 
man  availeth  much,"  the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of 
a  perfect  Mediator  must  be  irresistible. 

"He  then,"  continues  the  historian,  "lying  on 
Jesus'  bosom,  said,  Lord,  who  is  it  ?"  How  beau- 
tiful is  this  union  of  the  closest  intimacy,  and  the 
most  profound  respect !  St.  John,  though  permitted 
to  lean  upon  his  Saviour's  bosom,  remembered  still 
the  immeasurable  distance  there  must  ever  be  be- 
tween them.  "  Lord,  who  is  it  ?"  At  those  mo- 
ments when  you  are  admitted  to  the  nearest  union 
that  created,  finite  beings  can  ever  know,  with  him 
who  is  uncreate  and  eternal,  beware  of  the  slightest 
approach  to  familiarity:  in  all  your  inquiries,  in  all 
your  prayers,  while  they  breathe  the  spirit  of  a 
child,  and  are  dictated  by  the  confiding  love  of  a 
son,  forget  not  the  reverence  due  to  a  father:  re- 
member that  God  himself  has  said,  "  If  I  be  a  fa- 
ther, where  is  mine  honour  ?  If  I  be  a  master, 
where  is  my  fear?" 

26* 


306 


LECTURE  VI. 


Our  Lord  having,  in  answer  to  Peter's  inquiry, 
distinctly  pointed  out  the  traitor,  thus  began,  as  we 
learn  from  the  parallel  passage  in  St.  Luke's  Gos- 
pel, to  caution  Peter  himself  against  his  approach- 
ing danger:  "Simon,  Simon,  behold  Satan  hath  de- 
sired to  have  you,  that  he  may  sift  you  as  wheat : 
but  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith  fail  not: 
and  when  thou  art  converted,"  when  thou  hast  re- 
covered from  the  fall  which  I  foretell,  "  strengthen 
thy  brethren."  How  awful  a  warning  was  this 
to  Peter !  your  great  adversary  "  desires  to  have 
you :"  at  the  same  time  how  encouraging ! — he 
does  but  "  desire :"  as  the  lion  chained,  he  rages 
open-mouthed ;  but  there  is  a  limit  which  he  can- 
not pass. 

My  Christian  brethren,  you  stand  at  the  present 
hour  in  the  same  danger  that  Peter  stood;  you 
have  the  same  adversary,  and  he  is  still  filled  writh 
the  same  determined  animosity,  still  actuated  by 
the  same  dreadful  desire  to  sift  out  from  you  all 
that  is  valuable,  and  to  leave  only  the  "  chaff,  which 
shall  be  burned  with  unquenchable  fire."  Eighteen 
hundred  years,  of  too  successful  enterprise  against 
the  souls  of  men,  are  not  likely  to  have  weakened 
his  strength,  or  diminished  his  cunning ;  he  is  still 
the  same  indefatigable  opponent  who  ruined  Judas, 


LECTURE  VI. 


307 


and  who  almost  triumphed  over  Peter;  and  he  is 
at  this  moment  urging  all  his  efforts  of  cunning 
and  strength,  and  all  his  inexhaustible  resources 
of  trial  and  temptation,  against  the  soul  of  every 
individual  who  names  the  name  of  Christ.  He  is 
incessantly  striving  for  the  ruin  of  each,  even  of 
the  youngest,  the  poorest,  the  most  inconsiderable 
among  you,  and  is  desiring  your  soul  as  anxiously, 
as  unceasingly,  as  if  it  were  the  only  prize  upon 
this  world's  surface  worthy  of  his  efforts.  May 
we  not  then,  ought  we  not,  as  those  who  have  the 
charge  over  you  in  the  Lord,  seriously  to  ask  you, 
Against  such  an  enemy,  where  is  your  resource  ? 
what  is  your  strength  ?  You  will  not  find  it  in  your 
own  resolutions — you  need  not  seek  it  in  your  own 
heart.  There  is  no  armour  of  earthly  temper 
which  is  proof  against  his  fiery  darts,  no  weapon 
that  you  can  form  against  him,  which  shall  prosper. 
He  who  was  too  cunning  for  Solomon,  too  strong 
for  Samson,  will  not  be  baffled  by  your  wisdom,  or 
subdued  by  your  strength.  "  Resist  the  devil,  and 
he  will  flee  from  you,"  is  the  declaration  of  God's 
own  word  ;  but  resist  him,  in  the  power  of  your 
own  might,  and  he  will  laugh  you  to  scorn.  It  is 
from  the  armory  of  heaven  alone,  that  weapons 
can  be  brought,  fitted  for  this  spiritual  warfare. 


308 


LECTURE  VI. 


Do  you,  then,  seek  them  there?  Does  every  day 
behold  you  earnestly  imploring,  through  the  merits 
of  the  Redeemer,  arms  from  on  high  to  enable  you 
to  fight  the  good  fight  1  It  is  through  the  prayer 
of  your  ever  blessed  Intercessor  that  you  can  alone 
find  grace  equal  to  your  need ;  it  is  from  the  power 
of  the  Spirit  that  you  will  alone  obtain  strength 
equal  to  your  day.  "  I  have  prayed  for  thee" — 
there  is  your  refuge.  "  When  the  enemy  comes 
in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up 
a  standard  against  him" — there  is  your  strength : 
leave  these  aids  unsought,  and  your  defeat  is  inevi- 
table: seek  them  constantly,  faithfully,  and  fervent- 
ly, and  we  do  not  say  you  will  be  invulnerable, 
but  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  you  will  be  invinci- 
ble— "  kept  by  the  Power  of  God,  through  faith, 
unto  salvation." 

Happy  had  it  been  for  Peter,  if,  thus  warned, 
thus  counselled,  by  the  awful  declaration  that  there 
was  an  enemy  full  of  power,  and  full  of  cunning, 
watching  for  his  halting,  and  striving  for  his  ruin, 
he  had  instantly  acknowledged  his  weakness,  and 
betaken  himself  to  the  strong  for  strength.  There 
was  time  for  reflection,  time  for  self-searching,  time 
for  prayer.  Had  he  instantly  cast  himself  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus,  and  poured  out  the  heartfelt  acknow- 


LECTURE  VI. 


309 


ledgments  of  his  own  utter  incapacity  to  struggle 
with  the  approaching  enemy,  he  would,  doubtless, 
have  been  saved  from  the  hour  of  temptation;  the 
shield  of  celestial  temper,  would  have  been  thrown 
over  him,  and  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one, 
would  have  fallen  harmless  at  his  feet.  But,  alas  ! 
the  warning  voice,  although  it  was  the  voice  of  his 
Master  and  his  God,  sounded  but  in  vain.  "  Peter 
said  unto  him,  Lord,  I  am  ready  to  go  with  thee 
both  into  prison  and  to  death." 

Then  his  Divine  Master,  clearly  perceiving  the 
evidences  of  that  "  haughty  spirit  which  goeth  be- 
fore a  fall,"  thus  distinctly  and  solemnly  foretold 
his  approaching  sin ;  "  I  tell  thee,  Peter,  the  cock 
shall  not  crow  this  day,  before  that  thou  shalt  thrice 
deny  that  thou  knowest  me."  Peter,  unsubdued, 
unsoftened  hurried  forward  by  the  tempter,  who 
plies  his  efforts  with  such  rapidity,  that  when  we 
have  once  entered  upon  the  treacherous  deep,  wave 
follows  wave  in  incalculably  quick  succession — 
"Peter  said  unto  him,  Though  I  should  die  with 
thee,  yet  will  I  not  deny  thee ;"  thus  putting  the 
final  seal  to  the  sentence  which  now  became  irre- 
vocable. O !  my  brethren,  "  let  him"  among  you 
"  that  thinketh  he  standeth,  take  heed  lest  he  fall." 
Peter  firmly  believed  that  he  could  die  for  Christ, 


310 


LECTURE  VI. 


and  yet  he  lived  to  deny,  and  to  abjure  him.  At 
this  moment,  then,  how  can  the  most  sincere,  most 
faithful,  most  confident  among  you,  be  more  se- 
cure ?  Every  thing  of  stability  which  belongs  to 
the  creature,  vanishes  before  the  tremendous  onset 
of  the  powers  of  darkness.  You  possess  nothing 
in  which  Peter  was  deficient ;  how  then  can  you 
expect  to  stand,  where  Peter  fell  1  Your  heart  is 
devoted  to  your  Redeemer — and  was  not  Peter's  1 
your  conscience  acquits  you  of  any  premeditated 
intention  to  deny  him — and  did  not  Peter's  ?  your 
confidence  urges  you  to  declare,  that  worlds  should 
not  tempt  you  to  such  an  act — and  what  was  the 
language  of  Peter  ?  Alas !  it  is  indeed  only  the 
hour  of  trial  which  reveals  us  to  ourselves;  and 
that  hour  shows  us,  that  at  our  best  estate  we  are 
nothing,  and  less  than  nothing,  and  vanity.  You 
may  now  scoff  at  the  probability  of  danger ;  you 
may  imagine  your  rock  so  strong,  that  it  shall 
never  be  removed:  but  you  will  find  a  season? 
when  your  solicitations  to  sin  will  be  urgent,  and 
its  pretences  plausible,  and  its  opportunities  easy, 
and  the  hopes  of  recovery  or  concealment  probable, 
and  the  sin  itself  unusually  fascinating ;  in  such  an 
hour,  if  you  are  trusting  to  your  own  strength,  you 
will  assuredly  fall.    There  is  not  that  sin,  even  to 


LECTURE  VI. 


311 


the  betrayal  of  your  friend,  and  the  denial  of  your 
God,  to  which,  in  an  hour  of  presumptuous  confi- 
dence, the  natural  heart  may  not  be  seduced. 

My  younger  brethren,  yours  is  the  age,  and 
yours  the  state  of  Christian  feeling,  when  men  are 
most  confident  of  their  stability,  and  therefore 
when  they  are  most  liable  to  fall.  It  is  to  you, 
then*  we  would  particularly  apply  this  example. 
Avoid  every  thing  approaching  to  self-confidence, 
and  let  the  constant  desire  of  your  heart,  and  effort 
of  your  life  be,  to  maintain  a  humble,  lowly,  self- 
distrusting,  prayerful  walk  with  God :  be  assured 
it  is  not  any  grace  already  received,  it  is  not  any 
resolution  made,  it  is  not  any  experience  obtained, 
which  can  keep  you  from  falling,  if  you  are 
walking  carelessly,  or  confidently :  at  the  same 
time,  be  ye  equally  assured,  that  it  is  not  any 
temptation,  not  all  your  spiritual  enemies,  however 
numerous,  or  however  powerful,  who  shall  prevail 
against  you,  if  you  are  depending  simply  upon 
your  God  ;  then,  indeed,  you  shall  "  never  perish, 
neither  shall  any  man  pluck  you  out  of  his  hand." 
While,  therefore,  you  are  thus  simple  in  your  trust 
and  earnest  in  your  watchfulness,  you  are  safe ;  it 
is  the  separating  these  things,  which  the  unerring 
word  of  God  has  for  ever  united,  which  will  be 


312 


LECTURE  VI. 


your  ruin.  "  If  you  look  to  stand  in  the  faith  of 
the  sons  of  God,"  says  the  judicious  Hooker,* 
"  you  must  hourly,  continually  be  providing  and 
setting  yourselves  to  strive.  It  was  not  the  mean- 
ing of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  in  saying,  «  Father, 
keep  them  in  thy  name,'  that  you  should  be  care- 
less to  keep  yourselves.  To  your  own  safety,  your 
own  sedulity  is  required.  And  then,  blessed  for 
ever  and  ever  be  that  mother's  child,  whose  faith 
had  made  him  the  child  of  God.  The  earth  may 
shake,  the  pillars  of  the  world  may  tremble  under 
us,  the  countenance  of  the  heavens  may  be  ap- 
palled, the  sun  may  lose  his  light,  the  moon  her 
beauty,  the  stars  their  glory;  but  concerning  the 
man  that  trusteth  in  God — what  is  there  in  the 
world  that  shall  change  his  heart,  overthrow  his 
faith,  alter  his  affections  towards  God,  or  the  affec- 
tion of /God  to  him?  If  I  be  of  this  note,  who 
shall,  make  a  separation  between  me  and  my  God  ? 
*  *  *  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed;  I  am 
not  ignorant  whose  precious  blood  has  been  shed 
for  me :  I  have  a  Shepherd  full  of  kindness,  full  of 
care,  and  full  of  power :  unto  him  I  commit  my- 
self :  his  own  finger  has  engraven  this  sentence  on 

*  See  the  whole  of  this  beautiful  and  well-known  passage, 
Hooker's  Work?,  fol.  edit.  1622,  p.  550. 


LECTURE  VI. 


313 


the  tables  of  my  heart — '  Satan  hath  desired  to 
winnow  thee  like  wheat,  but  I  have  prayed  for 
thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not.'  Therefore  the  assur- 
ance of  my  hope  I  will  labour  to  keep  as  a  jewel 
unto  the  end ;  and  by  labour,  through  the  gracious 
mediation  of  His  prayer,  I  shall  keep  it" 


27 


314 


LECTURE  VII. 


LECTURE  VII. 

MARK  XIV.  37. 

"  He  cometh  and  findeth  them  sleeping,  and  saith  unto  Peter, 
Simon,  sleepest  thou  1  couldest  not  thou  watch  one  hour  ?" 

"  Cease  ye  from  man,"  is  one  of  those  divine  in- 
junctions, which,  although  presented  to  us  in  the 
word  of  God,  and  daily  and  hourly  impressed  upon 
us  by  the  providences  of  God,  is  most  difficult  of  re- 
ception and  arduous  in  practice.  Our  lot  is  cast 
for  the  present  among  weak,  imperfect  sinning  mor- 
tals like  ourselves,  and  we  feel  it  to  be  one  of  the 
happiest  circumstances  of  that  lot,  that  as  we  are 
all  blest  with  the  same  sympathies,  and  partakers 
of  the  same  sorrows  and  the  same  joys,  these  sor- 
rows are  divided,  and  these  joys  are  multiplied, 
when  in  the  union  of  Christian  fellowship,  we  suffer, 
or  rejoice,  together.  But  as  every  virtue  has  some 
nearly  related  vice,  so  every  happiness  in  our  pre- 
sent state  of  imperfection  has  some  kindred  sorrow 
for  ever  at  its  side  ;  the  very  sweetnesses  of  human 


LECTURE  VII. 


315 


friendship,  are  too  often  preparing  us  for  the  bitter- 
ness of  disappointment;  and  the  staff  upon  which 
we  delight  to  lean,  only  supports  us  for  a  time,  that 
it  may  gradually  crumble  into  dust  beneath  our 
wreight,  or  suddenly  break  and  pierce  us  while  it 
fails  us. 

We  are  now  entering  upon  a  scene  in  which  the 
weakness  of  human  friendship,  the  utter  helplessness 
of  human  friends,  the  necessity  in  our  hour  of  need 
of  ceasing  from  man,  and  resting  our  souls  upon 
the  Rock  of  Ages,  will  be  loudly  taught  us,  by  the 
frailty,  and  infirmity,  even  of  the  warm-hearted 
Peter  himself. 

Immediately  after  those  events  which  were  brought 
before  you  in  the  last  discourse,  Jesus  "  went  forth 
with  his  disciples  into  a  place  called  Gethsemane, 
over  the  brook  Cedron,  where  was  a  garden  into 
which  he  entered  and  his  disciples :  and  Jesus  saith 
unto  them,  Sit  ye  here,  while  I  go  and  pray  yon- 
der ;  and  he  taketh  with  him,  Peter,  James,  and 
John." 

The  same  disciples  who  had  been  witnesses  of 
his  transfiguration  and  his  glory,  were  now  to  be 
the  witnesses  of  his  humiliation  and  his  suffering. 
James  and  John  had  but  a  short  time  before  boldly 
asserted,  that  they  were  able  to  be  baptised  with 


316 


LECTURE  VI. 


Christ's  baptism  of  suffering,  and  to  drink  of  his  cup 
of  sorrow.  Peter  had  just  declared  that  he  was 
ready  to  go  with  him,  even  to  prison,  and  to  death. 
Of  all  his  disciples,  none  had  so  confidently  courted 
the  conflict,  none,  therefore,  had  less  reason  to  com- 
plain that  they  were  now  placed  in  the  front  row  of 
the  battle,  and  made  a  spectacle  to  men  and  angels 
of  the  weakness  of  man's  best  determinations,  and 
the  infirmity  of  the  strongest  faith. 

Then,  continues  the  evangelist,  "  Jesus  began  to 
be  sore  amazed  and  very  heavy."  This  was  the 
period  of  our  Lord's  greatest  suffering,  and  the 
acutest  agony.  The  horrors  of  the  cross  were  not 
to  be  compared  with  the  terrors  of  the  garden  ;  in 
the  former  his  bodily  sufferings  were  predominant, 
but  here,  his  mental  agonies. 

That  evil  spirit,  who,  after  the  temptation  in  the 
wilderness,  had  "  departed  from  him  for  a  season," 
now  returned  with  tenfold  greater  virulence,  to 
grapple  with  him  in  his  hour  of  weakness,  and  if  it 
were  possible,  to  frustrate  for  ever  the  one  great 
purpose  of  his  mission. 

Doubtless,  when  our  Lord  entered  the  garden,  he 
could  discern  those  hosts  of  spiritual  enemies,  who, 
unseen  to  mortal  eye,  unknown  to  mortal  apprehen- 
sion, were  thronging  the  midnight  air,  waiting  the 


LECTURE  VI[. 


317 


appointed  time  when  they  might  struggle  hand  to 
hand,  with  the  second  Adam,  as  they  had  once, 
alas !  too  successfully,  assailed  the  first.  That  time 
had  now  arrived.  "  This  is  your  hour,"  said  our 
Lord  to  the  conspirators,  "  and  the  power  of  dark- 
ness." 

Every  description  which  the  evangelists  give,  of 
the  state  of  mind  in  which  our  Lord  entered  upon 
the  conflict,  prove  the  tremendous  nature  of  the  as- 
sault, and  the  vivid  and  perfect  anticipation  of  its 
terrors,  which  possessed  the  mind  of  the  meek  and 
lowly  Jesus. 

Thus  the  expression  employed  by  St.  Matthew, 
signifies  literally,  that  Jesus  was  "  surrounded"  with 
grief;  that  of  St.  Mark,  that  he  began  to  be  "  ex- 
ceedingly astonished,  and  to  be  overwhelmed  with 
anguish  ;"  that  of  St.  John,  that  his  soul  was  in  the 
greatest  "  perturbation."  Then  it  was  that  our 
blessed  Lord,  in  his  human  nature,  almost  over- 
powered by  what  should  come  upon  him,  about  to 
pour  out  his  soul,  "  with  strong  crying  and  tears," 
before  the  throne  of  his  heavenly  Father,  anxious  at 
such  an  hour,  to  secure  every  aid  to  which  suffering 
mortality  can  fly  for  refuge,  expected  to  derive 
something  of  support  and  consolation,  from  human 
sympathy,  and  human  friendship.  For  we  read, 
27* 


318 


LECTURE  VII. 


that  he  said  to  the  three  disciples,  whom  he  had  se- 
lected as,  of  all  his  dearest  companions,  the  dearest 
to  his  heart,  "  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful  even 
unto  death  ;  tarry  ye  here  and  watch  with  me." 

What  an  entreaty  was  this  from  the  Lord  of  life 
to  his  poor  helpless  creature  !  "  Watch  with  me 
at  once  the  highest  duty,  and  the  sublimest  privilege, 
ever  offered  to  created  beings  !  To  be  thus,  as  it 
were,  united  to  the  Saviour  in  his  last  conflict ;  while 
he  alone  fought  the  battle  with  those  powers  of 
darkness,  from  which  mere  mortality  wTould  have 
shrunk  defeated  and  dismayed,  to  be  permitted  to 
watch,  and  to  pray  with  him,  to  strengthen  his  fail- 
ing hands,  to  cheer  his  fainting  spirit,  freely  to  offer 
all  at  least  of  those  poor  services,  which  man  could 
offer  at  such  an  hour,  and  in  such  a  contest !  Thus, 
as  Aaron  and  Hur  of  old,  held  up  the  arms  of  the 
exhausted  Moses,  that  Israel  might  triumph  over 
Amalek,  so  were  those  beloved  disciples  now  re- 
quired to  hold  up  the  arms,  and  aid  the  prayers  of 
their  fainting  Master.  Surely  one  such  hour  in 
Gethsemane,  would  not  have  been  too  dearly  pur- 
chased by  a  participation  in  Calvary  itself. 

And  now,  were  we  strictly  to  confine  ourselves 
to  the  history  of  him  upon  whose  life  we  are  com- 
menting, we  should  tarry  with  Peter  at  the  gate 
of  the  garden,  and  await  the  return  of  Jesus ;  but, 


♦ 


LECTURE  VII. 


319 


my  Christian  brethren,  however  deeply  we  may 
be  interested  in  Peter,  we  cannot  but  be  far  more 
deeply  interested  in  Peter's  Lord.  Let  us,  then, 
for  a  few  moments,  follow  the  Lamb  of  God  into 
the  inmost  recesses  of  the  garden ;  let  us  behold 
his  sufferings  and  his  agony';  let  us  listen  to  his 
reiterated  prayer:  so  shall  we,  under  the  divine 
blessing,  derive  a  more  profitable  lesson  from  the 
Master  than  the  disciple  could  ever  teach  us. 

Behold,  then,  the  Lord  Jesus,  having  withdrawn 
about  a  stone's  throw  from  his  disciples,  prepares 
alone  to  encounter  the  spirits  of  evil :  and  yet  he  is 
not  alone,  for  his  Father  is  with  him.* 

Listen  to  the  first  words,  which,  after  he  has 
fallen  upon  the  ground,  in  deepest  anguish  of  spirit, 
burst  from  his  lips :  He  said,  "  O,  my  Father." 
Surely,  never  before,  throughout  the  eternity  of 
his  existence,  had  these  words  been  prompted  by 
such  feeling  as  now  filled  and  oppressed  his  bosom  ! 

How  blessed  was  it  for  our  Lord,  how  blessed  is 
it  for  us  his  children,  that  in  our  utmost  extremity 
we  have  still  a  Father.  Human  counsellors  may 
forsake,  earthly  aids  may  fail  us  in  the  day  of  trial ; 
companionless  and  friendless  we  may  be — orphans 
we  can  never  be ;  we  have  a  Father  always  near, 


*  See  John  xvi.  32. 

\ 


320 


LECTURE  VII. 


always  powerful,  always  desirous  to  hear,  and 
willing  to  answer  the  cry  of  his  children.  "  If  it 
be  possible,"  continues  our  suffering  Redeemer, 
"let  this  cup  pass  from  me;  nevertheless,  not  my 
will,  but  thine  be  done."  "  And  being  in  an  agony 
he  prayed  more  earnestly ;  and  his  sweat  was,  as 
it  were,  great  drops  of  blood  falling  to  the  ground." 
This  was  but  the  beginning  of  sorrows ;  and  yet 
even  here  behold  the  tremendous  penalty  of  sin. 
See  the  Son  of  God  crushed  even  to  the  earth,  be- 
neath the  weight  of  man's  accumulated  guilt ; 
bleeding  at  every  pore,  from  inward  agony ;  writh- 
ing beneath  the  terrible  attack  of  the  tempter,  and 
praying,  earnestly  praying,  that  if  the  great  work 
for  which  he  now  was  struggling,  could  be  effected 
with  less  of  suffering,  his  hour  of  agony  might  be 
shortened,  and  this  most  bitter  cup  be  taken  from 
his  lips. 

My  Christian  brethren,  "  is  this  nothing  to  you, 
all  ye  that  pass  by?"  Have  you  no  personal 
interest  in  this  appalling  scene?  Know  you  not 
the  cause  of  the  tremendous  conflict  which  that 
garden  witnessed  ?  the  reason  that  this  man,  who 
"  knew  no  sin,"  knew  so  much  suffering  ? — Alas  ! 
this  is  what  it  cost,  to  redeem  our  souls !  It  was 
now,  that  the  Lord  of  life  "  was  wounded  for  our 
transgressions;"  he  was  bearing  the  penalty,  which 


LECTURE  VII. 


321 


we  had  fully  merited :  he  was  now  agonizing  be- 
neath the  wrath  of  God,  submitting  to  the  assaults 
of  the  tempter,  oppressed  by  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world,  suffering,  the  innocent  for  the  guilty,  that  he 
might  bring  us  to  God. 

We  beseech  you,  brethren,  when  you  next 
dwell  in  imagination  upon  the  delights  of  some 
favourite  sin,  think  of  its  effects  as  you  behold 
them  here.  Let  your  answer  to  the  tempter  be, 
"  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan," — I  am  no  longer 
deceived  by  the  specious  beauty  of  the  exterior;  I 
have  now  seen  sin,  in  all  its  undisguised,  and 
terrible  deformity;  I  have  seen  its  fearful  effects 
in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane:  and  1  desire,  by  the 
help  of  my  God,  never  again  to  look  with  a  mo- 
mentary complacency,  or  to  enter  into  a  momentary 
alliance  with  that  enemy,  to  ransom  me  from  whom 
my  adorable  Redeemer  thus  prayed,  and  agonized, 
and  bled. 

It  was  in  the  very  midst  of  these,  his  acutest 
sufferings,  that  our  blessed  Saviour  bethought  him- 
self of  the  friends,  whom  he  had  left  at  a  little 
distance,  to  comfort  him  by  their  watching,  and  to 
strengthen  him  by  their  petitions ;  and.  as  we  are 
told,  Jesus,  seeking  that  solace  which  he  now  so 
greatly  needed,  rose  up  from  prayer  and  came  to 
his  disciples.    What  then  must  have  been  the  feel- 


322 


LECTURE  VII. 


ings  of  bitterness,  which  wrung  the  deeply-sensi- 
tive and  affectionate  heart  of  our  Lord,  when 
he  discovered  his  followers  not  watching  with 
anxiety,  not  praying  with  fervency,  but  "  sleeping 
for  sorrow." 

What  a  picture  of  the  slothfulness  and  in- 
difference of  fallen  man  !  how  distressing  an  evi- 
dence of  the  carnal  security  even  of  the  apostles ! 
Much  may  no  doubt  be  spoken  in  extenuation : 
they  were  borne  down  by  grief;  they  had  been 
long  watching ;  the  midnight  air  was  damp  and 
cold ;  but  when  we  have  said  all,  a  fearful  reckon- 
ing will  still  remain. 

Upon  this,  however,  it  best  becomes  us  to  be 
silent;  our  own  watchings  are  two  drowsily  per- 
formed, our  own  prayers  too  faithlessly  offered,  to 
permit  us  to  raise  our  voices  against  these  sleeping 
disciples ;  let  us  rather  observe,  and  imitate  the 
meekness  of  our  perfect  Master,  who  never  yet 
has  "  broken  the  bruised  reed,  or  quenched  the 
smoking  flax."  Jesus  said  unto  them,  more  in 
sorrow  than  in  anger,  "  Why  sleep  ye  ?"  and  then, 
as  if  almost  overlooking  the  neglect  of  the  others, 
in  the  still  greater  delinquency  of  Peter,  he  turned 
to  him  and  said,  "  Simon,  sleepest  thou  ?  Couldest 
not  thou  watch  one  hour  V9  Thou  hast  offered  to 
die  with  me — canst  not  thou  watch  with  me  1  St. 


LECTURE  VII. 


323 


Mark  assures  us,  "  They  wist  not  what  to  answer 
him." 

Do  we  not  grieve  for  human  nature  ? — do  we 
not  grieve  for  Peter  ? — do  we  not  grieve  for  our- 
selves, while  witnessing  such  a  scene  ?  He  who 
had  before  so  loudly  professed,  to  be  now  so  guiltily 
silent;  he  who  had  for  his  own  convenience  or 
emolument  watched  through  so  many  a  lonely 
night  in  his  fishing-boat  upon  the  sea  of  Galilee,  to 
be  now  unable  to  watch  a  single  hour  with  his  suf- 
fering Master. 

My  Christian  brethren,  weep  not  for  Peter,  but 
for  yourselves  and  for  your  children.  It  is  not 
Peter's  likeness  alone  which  we  are  now  portray- 
ing ;  look  closely,  and  you  will  find  some  striking 
features  of  your  own.  Have  you  not  all  made 
great  professions  of  service  to  your  Lord?  Have 
you  not  all  virtually  declared,  that  you  would  be 
u  Christ's  faithful  soldiers  and  servants  unto  your 
lives'  end  ;"*  do  you  not  constantly  renew  this  dedi- 
cation to  him  of  all  yon  are,  and  all  you  have,  in 
the  sacrament  of  his  supper,  the  military  oath 
which  ought  to  bind  you  to  your  leader?  Should 
he  then  visit  you  in  person,  as  he  has  declared  he 
will — should  he  be  present  with  you  now  in  spirit, 


*  Baptismal  Service. 


324 


LECTURE  VII. 


as  he  has  declared  he  is,  how  would  he  find  you 
occupied?  As  regards  the  service  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  are  you  watching,  or  are  you  sleeping  ?  0  ! 
if  your  hearts  return  a  faithful  answer,  how  many 
must  reply,  that  although  their  professions  have 
been  as  loud  as  Peter's,  their  watching  has  been 
as  careless,  and  their  sleep  as  sound. 

Let  us  enter  yet  a  little  more  closely  into  this 
important,  this  heart-searching  subject;  let  us 
solemnly  inquire  of  every  one  among  you,  have 
you  ever  really  watched  one  hour  with  Christ? 
Did  you  ever  spend  one  hour  in  secret  communion 
with  him,  or  in  serious  meditation  upon  all  that  he 
has  done  and  suffered  for  you  ?  Perhaps  you  will 
think  this  too  long  a  period  to  have  been  thus  en- 
gaged ?  Then  let  us  again  inquire — have  you  never 
watched  one  hour  with  the  world  ?  Do  you  think 
an  hour  too  long  when  spent  upon  its  worthless  ser- 
vices ;  nay,  are  there  not  some  of  you,  who  do  not 
think  a  whole  night  too  long  to  be  spent  in  the  tem- 
ples of  sin,  or  in  the  retreats  of  folly  ?  But  when 
you  are  called  upon  to  watch  and  pray,  you  are 
wearied,  utterly  wearied,  before  one  little  hour  has 
run  its  course.  Would  that  our  Lord  could  make 
the  same  excuse  for  you  which  he  so  mercifully 
offered  for  his  sleeping  disciples !  "  The  spirit  in- 
deed is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak."  Would 


LECTURE  VII. 


325 


that  of  every  one  here  present,  we  might  truly 
say — whatever  be  the  weakness  of  your  corrupt 
nature,  there  is  a  heart  still  right  with  God,  a  spirit 
which  indeed  is  willing,  which  hates  the  bondage 
of  the  world ;  and  most  unwillingly  submits  to  its 
degrading  trammels !  which  courts  not  voluntarily 
its  sinful  pleasures,  but  when  overtaken  by  the  nox- 
ious torpor  which  they  shed  around  them,  struggles 
against  that  sleep  of  death,  and  rouses  itself,  and 
seeks  earnestly  more  grace,  that  it  may  be  enabled 
to  shake  off  its  slumbers,  and  work  out  its  salvation, 
while  it  is  day. 

You  best  know,  my  brethren,  whether  there  be 
such  a  heart  in  you,  whether  yours  is  the  spirit 
which  loves  the  world,  or  which  sighs  that  it  is  so 
restrained  and  fettered  down  to  earth,  by  the  poor 
tenement  of  clay  in  which  it  dwells,  and  longs,  ar- 
dently, constantly  longs,  for  the  hour  when  it  shall 
breathe  a  purer  atmosphere,  and  live  amid  the  joys 
at  God's  right  hand. 

Three  times  did  the  Lord  thus  visit  his  disciples ; 
three  times  did  he,  after  all  his  kindnesses  and  all 
his  warnings,  find  them  sleeping;  and  twice  did  he 
retire  from  them  in  utter  disappointment,  to  weep, 
and  pray,  and  agonize  alone. 

No  human  fellowship,  no  mortal  aid  was  ex- 
28 


326 


LECTURE  VII. 


tended  to  him  in  these  hours  of  suffering.  "Of 
all  whom  God  had  given  him  he  had  lost  none ;" 
yet  not  one  individual  could  he  find  sufficiently 
wakeful,  sufficiently  interested,  sufficiently  affec- 
tionate, to  watch  and  pray  with  him  one  hour;  no 
single  being  into  whose  bosom  he  could  pour  the 
tide  of  his  anguish,  save  into  the  bosom  of  his 
God.  Well  did  the  pious  psalmist  say,  "  Put  not 
your  trust  in  princes,  nor  in  any  child  of  men,  for 
there  is  no  help  in  them." 

At  the  strongest,  man  is  too  weak ;  at  the 
wealthiest,  too  poor ;  at  the  firmest,  too  fickle  for 
your  support ;  to-day  making  protestations  of  fide- 
lity, to-morrow  demonstrating  their  utter  empti- 
ness and  insufficiency.  "  Cease  ye  from  man ;" 
seek  that  friend  who  neither  slumbers  nor  sleeps, 
whose  "  gifts  and  callings  are  without  repentance," 
whose  friendship  knows  no  change,  whose  love 
knows  no  decay,  and  who  has  himself  declared, 
whatever  be  your  danger  or  your  sorrow,  "  Before 
they  call,  I  will  answer;  and  while  they  are  yet 
speaking,  I  will  hear." 

It  was  when  our  Lord  was  thus  destitute  of  hu- 
man succour,  that,  as  the  apostle  to  the  Hebrews 
assures  us,  "  He  was  heard  in  that  he  feared  ;"  "  for 
there  appeared  an  angel  from  heaven  strengthen- 


LECTURE  VII. 


327 


ing  him."  The  messenger  of  God  rejoiced  to  per- 
form the  office,  which  man,  ungrateful  man,  ne- 
glected. 

And  does  not  the  child  of  God  experience  this  at 
the  present  hour'?  When  the  heart  of  the  proud 
is  closed  against  you,  and  the  face  of  the  rich  is 
turned  away  from  the  poor  man,  the  throne  of 
grace  is  still  open  to  you,  the  Lord  does  not  refuse 
to  lift  up  the  light  of  his  countenance  upon  you : 
and  when  no  word  of  kindness,  no  voice  of  sym- 
pathy is  heard  from  man,  many  are  the  messages 
of  tenderness  and  love  which  your  heavenly  Fa- 
ther conveys  into  your  drooping  hearts,  by  those 
invisible  agents  whose  delight  it  is  to  "  minister 
unto  such  as  shall  be  the  heirs  of  salvation." 

Jesus  cometh  unto  Peter  and  his  companions 
"  the  third  time,  and  saith  unto  them,  Sleep  on  now 
and  take  your  rest ;  it  is  enough,  the  hour  is  come, 
behold  the  Son  of  Man  is  betrayed  into  the  hands 
of  sinners."  Twice  had  he  roused  them  from  their 
slumbers,  and  enforced  upon  them  the  pressing  dan- 
gers of  their  situation,  and  the  urgent  necessity  of 
instant,  fervent,  prayer ;  adding,  "  Watch  and  pray, 
lest  ye  enter  into  temptation;"  ye  have  neither 
watched  nor  prayed  for  me,  O !  neglect  not  to  do 
it  for  yourselves.    But  at  his  third  visit,  how  differ- 


328 


LECTURE  VII. 


ent  was  the  language  of  their  divine  Master: 
"  Sleep  on  now,  and  take  your  rest ;"  the  time  for 
prayer,  the  time  for  watching  has  run  out ;  those 
precious  moments  in  which  you  might  have  gather- 
ed strength  for  the  coming  conflict,  have  been  irre- 
trievably wasted ;  the  hours  which  I  have  spent  in 
agony,  you  have  passed  in  sleep ;  it  matters  little 
now  whether  you  wake  or  sleep;  your  desertion  is 
certain,  your  fall  is  inevitable. 

My  brethren,  let  these  words  of  solemn  import 
sink  into  your  souls.  Many  have  been  your  warnings; 
many  have  been  your  awakening  calls  ;  often  while 
sunk  in  lethargy,  and  indifference,  have  the  words 
of  your  Saviour  been  urged  upon  you  by  the  voice 
of  his  ministering  servants,  "  Awake,  thou  that 
sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall 
give  thee  light." 

You  cannot  deny  the  frequency,  the  urgency  of 
these  calls ;  but  are  there  none  among  you  who  will 
confess  that  no  sooner  have  you  heard  them,  than 
you  have  again  composed  yourselves  to  sleep,  for- 
gotten all  that  has  been  promised,  all  that  has  been 
threatened,  until  another  warning,  or  another  threat- 
ening, has  broken  in  upon  your  slumbers,  only 
again  to  leave  you,  when  its  short-lived  impression 
has  died  away,  in  apathy  and  indifference  ? 


LECTURE  VU. 


329 


The  great  Jehovah  himself  has  said,  "  My  Spirit 
shall  not  always  strive  with  men." 

Be  warned,  then,  we  implore  you,  before  warnings 
themselves  are  rendered  nugatory.  Believe  that  the 
Lord  is  this  day  expostulating  with  you,  is  this  day 
solemnly  inquiring,  "why  sleep  ye?"  is  this  day 
urging  upon  you  the  necessity,  the  instant  necessity, 
of  watchfulness  and  prayer,  that  you  may  be 
brought  home  to  God  through  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  his  dear  Son.  Are  you  still  determined 
upon  postponement,  still  dreaming  of  delay,  and 
looking  forward  to  "  a  more  convenient  season" 
than  the  present?  Then  it  is  our  duty,  our  deep- 
ly painful  duty,  to  declare  to  you  that,  which  if  you 
thus  persevere  must  be  the  inevitable  result ;  upon 
you  will  be  passed  this  awful  sentence  :  "  Sleep  on 
now,  and  take  your  rest ;"  it  is  enough ;  mercy  can 
no  longer  plead  for  you,  justice  now  must  have  her 
perfect  work.  The  neglected  warnings,  the  pro- 
mises despised,  the  convictions  slighted,  the  wasted 
hours,  the  unheeded  agony  of  your  Redeemer,  all 
cry  aloud  for  justice — grace  offered  and  contemned 
is  now  withdrawn;  the  word  preached  shall  not 
profit  you ;  it  may  still  reach  your  ear,  but  its 
awakening  power  shall  be  for  ever  taken  from  it,  it 
shall  not  penetrate  your  heart.  Those  heavenly 
28* 


330 


LECTURE  VII. 


sounds  which  come  with  healing  on  their  wings  to 
others,  shall  fall  with  withering  blight  on  you.  To 
others  "  a  savour  of  life  unto  life,"  to  you  "  a  savour 
of  death  unto  death."  Who  can  imagine  a  more 
awful,  a  more  pitiable  lot !  You  may  live  to  behold, 
as  time  rolls  on,  many  whom  you  know,  some  whom 
you  love,  called  by  the  joyful  sound  of  the  Gospel,  jus- 
tified, sanctified,  and  in  God's  good  time  for  ever  glo- 
rified; while  you  remain  unchanged,  unedified,  un- 
blest,  a  sad,  and  fearful  monument,  of  warnings  too 
often,  and  too  long  neglected.  The  sleep  in  which  you 
voluntarily  indulged,  vainly  thinking  that  you  might 
at  your  good  pleasure  rouse  yourself,  now  become 
habitual,  judicial,  confirmed  ;  no  waking  interval, 
no  cessation  to  your  slumbers,  until  they  shall  be 
broken  by  the  last  trumpet  of  the  archangel,  and 
you  shall  be  summoned  into  those  regions  of  sorrow 
from  which  sleep  will  be  for  ever  banished ;  where 
there  will  be  no  eye  that  slumbers,  no  heart  that 
rests  throughout  a  dark  and  cheerless  eternity ; 
where  their  "  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not 
quenched." 


LECTURE  VIH. 


331 


LECTURE  VIII. 

LUKE  XXII.  61. 

"  And  the  Lord  turned  and  looked  upon  Peter.  And  Peter 
remembered  the  word  of  the  Lord,  how  he  had  said  unto 
him,  before  the  cock  crow  thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice." 

The  incident  to  which  we  are  now  to  request 
your  attention  is  perhaps  the  most  painful,  and  the 
most  improving,  in  the  biography  we  are  review- 
ing— Peter's  denial  of  his  Divine  Master !  So 
entirely  is  this  distressing  event  identified  with 
Peter's  memory,  that  although  we  may  find  many 
persons  who  are  ignorant  of  the  striking,  and 
beautiful  instances  of  zeal,  and  of  courage,  of 
fidelity,  and  of  love,  with  which  his  history  is 
replete,  we  shall  scarcely  find  an  individual,  how- 
ever unversed  in  sacred  lore,  who  does  not  well 
remember  Peter's  denial,  and  all  its  attendant  cir- 
cumstances of  cowardice  and  ingratitude,  of  dupli- 
city and  profaneness.  Here,  then,  is  one  valuable 
lesson  imparted  at  the  very  outset— the  imperish- 


332  LECTURE  VIII. 

able  nature  of  every  act,  and  thought,  and  word 
of  sin.  Eighteen  hundred  years  have  passed  away 
since  this  admirable  apostle  fought  the  good  fight, 
kept  the  faith,  witnessed  a  good  confession,  and  re- 
ceived the  crown  of  martyrdom ;  yet  does  this 
single  act  of  apostacy  and  sin  keep  its  place  upon 
the  Christian  records,  and  hang  as  a  dark  cloud 
over  the  brightness  of  his  memory.  Would  that 
it  might  please  the  Spirit  of  God  to  fix  this  humiliat- 
ing fact  in  your  recollection,  that  you  may  never 
enter  upon  the  smallest  act  of  transgression,  with- 
out bearing  in  mind,  that  all  you  are  doing,  you 
are  doing  for  eternity !  The  memory  of  every 
criminal  pleasure,  of  every  guilty  indulgence  is 
immortal ;  no  power  on  earth  can  teach  you  to  for- 
get it ;  long  after  your  course  of  sin  shall  be  con- 
cluded, and  your  head  laid  in  the  dust,  and  your 
virtues,  the  virtues  of  the  natural  man,  passed  into 
oblivion ;  the  act  of  dishonesty,  of  duplicity,  of 
unchastity,  or  of  unkindness,  of  which,  perhaps, 
you  thought  but  little  in  the  committal,  shall  be 
spoken  of  among  men,  shall  be  remembered  before 
God.  Every  deed  of  sin  is  engraven,  as  with  the 
point  of  a  diamond,  upon  the  everlasting  tablets, 
and  although  the  ceaseless  flood  of  time  is  for  ever 
passing  over  them,  it  cannot  obliterate  a  single 


LECTURE  VNL  333 

syllable  of  recorded  evil.  O !  were  it  not  for  the 
cleansing  efficacy  of  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  shed 
for  every  penitent  believer,  how  could  the  holiest 
among  us  bear  to  contemplate  this  awful  truth  ? 

"  Simon  Peter,"  says  the  evangelist,  "  followed 
Jesus  afar  off  unto  the  high  priest's  palace,  and  so 
did  another  disciple ;  that  disciple  was  known  unto 
the  high  priest,  and  went  in  with  Jesus  into  the 
palace  of  the  high  priest :  but  Peter  stood  at  the 
door  without.  Then  went  out  that  other  disciple, 
and  spake  unto  her  that  kept  the  door,  and  brought 
in  Peter."  Here  was  the  commencement  of  Peter's 
sin.  Had  not  our  Lord  most  solemnly  warned  him 
that  this  night  he  should  deny  his  Master  ? — was 
it  therefore  wise,  was  it  even  justifiable,  that  he 
should  thus  cast  himself  into  the  very  furnace  of 
temptation  1  It  is  in  vain,  my  brethren,  that  you 
commence  every  morning  of  your  life  with  that 
most  necessary  petition,  "  Lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion," if,  before  the  sun  has  set,  you  willingly  throw 
yourselves  into  it;  nay,  if  at  the  very  moment  you 
utter  it,  your  heart  acknowledges  that  you  do  not 
in  sincerity,  desire  to  be  kept  from  its  allurements 
— that  in  fact  you  love  the  temptation,  while  you 
hope  to  escape  the  sin  :  such  prayers  rise  not  above 


334 


LECTURE  VIII. 


the  cloudy  atmosphere  of  earth ;  they  never  reach 
the  mercy-seat  of  God. 

But  again,  had  not  our  Lord,  in  reference  to 
these  very  trials,  and  these  very  sufferings,  which 
were  awaiting  himself,  distinctly  declared  unto 
Peter,  "  Thou  canst  not  follow  me  now  ?"  Why 
then  was  he  not  content  with  the  gracious  promise, 
"  Thou  shalt  follow  me  afterwards  ?"  Why  did  he 
not  wait  till  that  appointed  time,  when  he  should 
be  providentially  called  to  sufferings,  and  to  death, 
and  being  thus  called,  would  have  been  certain  to 
receive  grace  equal  to  his  day?  Alas!  the  time 
when  these  reflections  might  have  sunk  deep  into 
his  heart  with  most  powerful  effect,  and  have 
arisen  to  the  throne  of  grace  in  all-availing  prayer, 
had  been  slumbered  fruitlessly  away;  he  had  not 
watched,  he  had  not  prayed,  he  had  neglected  to 
"  put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God,"  and  he  was 
now  about  to  cast  himself  unarmed  "  upon  the 
thick  bosses  of  the  bucklers"  of  his  spiritual 
enemies.  Who  that  knows  the  strength  of  Satan, 
and  the  weakness  of  unassisted  man,  can  doubt 
for  a  single  moment  that  defeat,  and  shame,  and 
ruin,  were  the  inevitable  result  ? 

Very  profitable  is  it  to  the  Christian,  to  mark 
step  by  step,  the  manner  in  which  the  powers  of 


LECTURE  VIII. 


335 


darkness  advanced  to  the  unequal  conflict;  how 
they  favoured  the  approach  of  their  intended 
victim,  and  shielded  him  from  the  attacks  of  other 
opponents,  that  "  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one" 
might  be  pointed  with  a  surer  aim,  and  strike  with 
a  more  deadly  effect.  No  opposition  was  made 
by  the  conspirators,  to  his  following  his  Divine 
Master;  no  active  adherent  of  the  chief  priests, 
and  elders,  drove  him  back;  notwithstanding  his 
act  of  violence  to  the  servant  of  the  high  priest,  he 
is  permitted  to  arrive  perfectly  unmolested  at  the 
gates  of  the  palace  ;  there,  however,  an  unexpected 
impediment  did  arise,  and  we  are  for  a  moment 
induced  to  hope,  that  he  may  still  escape  that  scene 
of  temptation.  The  gates  of  the  palace  are  locked  ; 
his  entrance,  therefore,  appears  impossible;  no- 
thing seems  left  for  him  but  to  return  to  his  com- 
panions, and  betake  himself,  as  they  had  done,  to  a 
place  of  safety.  Alas  !  not  so  does  Satan  suffer 
himself  to  be  deprived  of  his  expected  prey ;  a 
friend  is  found,  even  in  the  high  priest's  palace,  to 
open  the  door,  and  bring  in  Peter. 

Thus  it  is  invariably,  upon  the  commencement  of 
every  course  of  sin ;  the  indefatigable  enemy  of 
your  souls,  removes  all  obstructions,  levels  all  oppo- 
sition ;  if  you  will  but  walk  with  him  upon  forbidden 


336 


LECTURE  VIII. 


paths,  he  will  take  care  that,  for  a  time  at  least, 
they  shall  be  both  smooth  and  flowery;  if  you  but 
condescend  to  stand  at  the  door  of  forbidden  plea- 
sures, never  will  he  permit  you  to  be  kept  waiting; 
if  you  but  entertain  the  guilty  inclination,  Satan 
himself  will  produce  the  favourable  opportunity,  and 
sooner  than  you  should  be  disappointed,  he  will  find 
for  you,  as  he  did  for  Peter,  some  friend,  whose 
offices  of  intended  kindness,  shall  open  a  way  for 
your  present  desires,  and  your  future  ruin. 

"  And  when  they  had  kindled  a  fire  in  the  midst 
of  the  hall,  and  were  set  down  together,  Peter  sat 
down  among  them,  and  warmed  himself  at  the  fire, 
and  sat  with  the  servants  to  see  the  end." 

Observe  in  this,  the  continuation  of  Peter's  delin- 
quency. Had  he  not  thus  voluntarily  intermingled 
with  the  avowed  enemies  of  his  Lord,  there  would 
have  been  no  danger;  for  there  would  have  been 
no  opportunity  of  denying  him.  His  entrance 
into  the  palace  might  be,  perhaps,  excused,  from 
the  supposition  that  it  was  from  fervent  love  to 
his  Divine  Master,  and  with  a  zealous  desire,  at 
all  hazards,  to  rescue,  or  to  serve  him ;  but  his 
quietly  taking  his  seat  among  the  servants  of  the 
high  priest,  and  waiting  like  them,  at  the  hall  fire, 
M  to  see  the  end,"  is  perfectly  inexcusable. 

There  is  something  almost  more  distressing  in  the  . 


LECTURE  VIII. 


337 


sight  of  Peter,  thus  selfishly  engaged  at  such  a 
time,  and  such  a  place,  than  in  Peter  subdued  by 
fears,  from  which  the  boldest  might  have  shrunk, 
and  acting  the  denier  and  the  recreant. 

But,  my  brethren,  much  as  there  is  to  humble, 
there  is  nothing  in  all  this  to  astonish  those  who 
know  the  deep  depravity  of  our  fallen  nature.  This 
is  the  usual  process  of  temptation :  you  enter  upon 
some  questionable  path  of  morals  or  of  conduct ;  you 
intermingle  with  the  men  of  the  world,  the  servants 
of  pleasure  and  vanity,  the  avowed  or  concealed 
enemies  of  your  Divine  Master  ;  and  what  is  the 
result?  Coldness  of  heart,  and  deadness  of  feeling 
towards  a  suffering  Redeemer  are  speedily  super- 
induced ;  you  become  as  totally  different  a  person 
in  the  society  of  the  men  of  the  world  from  what  you 
have  ever  been,  while  living  in  close  communion  with 
your  God,  as  Peter  amid  the  high  priest's  servants, 
differed  from  Peter  at  the  paschal  supper.  Your 
own  comfort,  your  own  ease,  your  own  pleasures, 
are  soon  preferred  to  Christ ;  and  being  thus  gradu- 
ally alienated  from  him  you  once  have  loved,  your 
affections  are  seared,  your  heart  is  hardened,  and 
your  conscience  is  ultimately  prepared,  for  the  still 
greater  sin  of  denying  and  abjuring  him.  If  you 
would  be  safe,  there  must  be  no  compromise,  no 
29 


I 

338  LECTURE  VIII. 

temporizing:  you  must  not  consider  how  you  shall 
act  when  in  the  company  of  the  ungodly  ;  you  must 
resolve  that  you  shall  not  be  found  in  such  company ; 
you  must  say,  with  David,  "  I  will  not  know  a 
wicked  person  f  the  language  of  Jacob  must  be  the 
firm  resolution  of  your  heart ;  "  0  my  soul,  come 
not  thou  into  their  secret ;  unto  their  assembly, 
mine  honour,  be  not  thou  united  ;"  with  Caleb,  you 
must  determine,  at  all  hazards  and  costs  to  "fol- 
low the  Lord  fully,"  and  the  event  will  be,  that 
you  will  be  kept  in  the  hour  of  temptation,  and  will 
know  by  blessed  experience,  that  "peace  of  God 
which  passeth  all  understanding." 

It  was  while  Peter  was  thus  seated  among  the 
servants  in  the  hall,  that,  as  we  read,  "  a  damsel 
came  unto  him,"  saying,  "  Thou  also  wast  with 
Jesus  of  Galilee;"  but  he  denied  before  them  all, 
saying,  "  I  know  not  what  thou  sayest."  Observe 
carefully,  my  brethren,  the  tendency  of  this  first 
reply  of  Peter;  it  was  not  a  direct  and  positive  de- 
nial ;  Peter  when  accused  of  having  been  with  Jesus 
of  Galilee,  had  not  yet  attained  sufficient  hardihood 
to  declare  that  he  never  was  with  the  Saviour,  that 
he  knows  not  the  man— but  he  rather  trusts,  that 
an  equivocating  answer  will  be  sufficient  to  secure 
his  safety,  and  yet  enable  him  to  escape  the  guilt  of 


LECTURE  VIH. 


339 


a  more  distinct  and  absolute  falsehood.  "  I  know 
not  what  thou  sayest,"  I  do  not  distinctly  hear,  I 
do  not  quite  understand  the  charge.  Alas  !  is  not 
this  the  manner  in  which  too  many  even  at  the  pre- 
sent hour,  endeavour  to  satisfy  their  own  consciences, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  keep  well  with  the  world ; 
not  quite  to  deny  their  Lord,  but  so  to  escape  from 
sinful  compliances,  that,  while  they  evade  the  guilt 
of  the  committal,  they  may  also  evade  the  danger 
or  the  ridicule  of  the  refusal.  It  is  this  misplaced 
ingenuity,  brethren,  which,  while  it  deceives  your 
friends,  injures  the  cause  of  your  Redeemer,  grieves 
his  Holy  Spirit,  and  does  not  clear  your  own  souls. 
The  straight  path,  is  the  only  safe  path  for  the  Chris- 
tian, for  it  is  the  only  path  which  leads  to  life  ; 
every  other,  after  all  its  windings  and  all  its  turn- 
ings, infallibly  leads  down  to  the  chambers  of 
death. 

Peter  had  scarcely  time  to  congratulate  himself 
upon  the  success  of  his  evasion,  when  another  maid 
saw  him.  and  said  unto  them  that  were  there,  This 
fellow  was  also  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  and  again 
he  denied  with  an  oath,  "  I  do  not  know  the  man." 
Observe  how  the  sin  darkens  as  it  proceeds ;  it  is 
no  longer  an  equivocation ;  by  whatever  name  it 
might  have  been  before  denominated,  it  is  now  an 


340 


LECTURE  VIII. 


absolute  and  undeniable  falsehood :  "  I  do  not  know 
the  man :"  a  falsehood,  backed  by  perjury,  strength- 
ened by  an  oath.  Who  could  believe  that  the  man 
who  is  thus  solemnly  swearing  that  he  does  not 
even  know  our  gracious  Redeemer,  was  the  same 
who,  but  a  short  time  since,  had  uttered  that  most 
affecting  declaration :  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we 
go,  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life?"  Had 
Judas  declared,  "  I  know  not  the  man,1'  we  should 
have  been  ready  to  reply,  "  Truth,  for  thou  hast 
never  known  him  ;"  but  when  Peter  makes  the  same 
declaration,  pity  and  regret  stifle  every  word  of 
condemnation. 

Doubly  painful  to  a  Christian  are  the  transgres- 
sions of  a  child  of  God,  when,  beholding  what  he 
is,  we  remember  what  he  has  been.  When  we  see 
those  among  you  who  "  have  tasted  that  the  Lord 
is  gracious,"  who  have  sat  at  their  Father's  table 
and  eaten  at  their  Father's  board,  content  to  feed 
with  the  prodigal  "  upon  the  husks  which  the  swine 
did  eat;"  when  we  behold  you  who  have  once 
loved  the  service  of  your  God,  and  the  name  of 
your  Redeemer,  again  turning  aside  to  folly,  leaving 
the"  paths  of  pleasantness  and  peace,"  and  denying, 
by  your  lives  and  conversations,  the  Lord  who 
bought  you;  then  it  is  that  we  cannot  but  take  up 


LECTURE  VIII. 


341 


the  lamentation  of  the  prophet;  "O  that  my  head 
were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears, 
that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for  the  slain  of  the 
daughter  of  my  people."  We  can  pray  for  others, 
hut  we  cannot  but  weep  for  you.  When  we  behold 
you  listening  unmoved,  to  truths  which  once  had 
power  to  awaken  your  conscience  and  to  melt  your 
heart:  when  we  see  you  join  in  the  scoff,  and  the 
ridicule,  against  those  with  whom  you  once  rejoiced 
to  mingle;  when  we  find  you  no  longer  loving  the 
name  of  Jesus  as  "  the  chiefest  among  ten  thousand 
and  altogether  lovely  ;"  no  longer  anxiously  striving 
to  fulfil  the  least  of  his  commandments  :  O,  with 
what  painful  emphasis  do  those  words  of  the  apostle 
come  home  to  our  hearts :  "  It  is  impossible*  for 
those  who  were  once  enlightened  and  have  tasted 
the  heavenly  gift,  and  were  made  partakers  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  if  they  shall  fall  away,  to  renew  them 
again  unto  repentance,  seeing  they  crucify  to  them- 
selves the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put  him  to  an 
open  shame. 

But  the  measure  of  Peter's  iniquity  was  not  yet 
full.  M  After  a  while,  came  unto  him  they  that 
stood  by.  and  said  to  Peter,  Surely,  thou  art  also 
one  of  this  man's  disciples,  for  thy  speech  betrayed; 

*  Marking  its  extreme  difficulty. 

29* 


342 


LECTURE  VIII. 


thee.  Then  began  he  to  curse  and  to  swear,  say- 
ing, I  know  not  the  man."  Here  was  the  comple- 
tion of  Peter's  guilt ;  the  disgraceful  act  of  the 
denial  repeated  the  third  time,  and  now  accompa- 
nied by  horrible  oaths,  and  imprecations.  Ought 
we  not,  before  such  an  example  passes  from  our 
memories,  earnestly  to  pray, "  Lead  us  not  into 
temptation,"  and  permit  us  not,  O  Lord,  to  lead 
ourselves  thither ;  since  Peter  fell,  who  can  be  safe? 
Lord,  44  hold  thou  up  our  goings,  that  our  footsteps 
slip  not." 

"  Immediately,  while  he  yet  spake,"  continues  St. 
Luke,  "  the  cock  crew."  Surely  no  malefactor 
condemned  to  suffer  for  the  violated  laws  of  his 
country,  ever  heard  his  last  hour  strike  upon  the 
prison  bell  with  half  the  agony  of  feeling,  with 
which  that  cock-crowing  rang  upon  the  ears  of 
Peter !  Still  was  there  a  sight  which  smote  far 
deeper  than  that  sound :  "  The  Lord  turned  and 
looked  upon  Peter."  Who  can  portray  the  silent 
eloquence  of  that  last  look  ?  What  volumes  must 
it  have  spoken  to  the  heart  of  the  fallen  apostle ! 
Could  he  behold  that  well-known  countenance,  and 
again  repeat,  "  I  know  not  the  man  V  Could  he  see 
his  divine  Master  "  as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers  is 
dumb,"  and  again  break  forth  into  oaths  and  im- 


LECTURE  VIII. 


343 


precations?  Could  he  bear  the  reproach  of  that 
meek  eye,  and  yet  remain  in  the  guilty  scene  amidst 
these  enemies  of  his  Saviour,  and  of  his  own  soul? 
No  !  that  single  glance  was  all  that  was  required  to 
send  home  the  arrow  of  conviction  and  repentance 
to  his  bosom ;  he  instantly  remembered  the  word 
that  the  Lord  had  spoken,  and  he  "  went  out  and 
wept  bitterly." 

Blessed  be  God  that  such  an  act  of  sovereign 
grace,  and  pardoning  mercy,  has  been  bequeathed 
to  us ;  that  as  we  have  witnessed  Peters  fall,  the 
fruit  of  his  own  presumption,  we  are  enabled  also 
to  witness  Peter's  recovery,  the  fruit  of  his  Saviour's 
love.  It  was  that  single  look  of  his  Redeemer 
which  brought  back  the  erring  sheep  to  the  fold  of 
the  good  Shepherd.  Have  you,  my  brethren — an  d 
who  has  not — in  thought,  or  word,  or  deed,  by  your 
worldliness  or  pride,  by  your  unchastity  or  un- 
charitableness,  virtually  denied  a  spiritual  and  hum- 
ble, a  pure  and  merciful  Saviour?  Then,  while 
you  receive  the  solemn  warning,  receive  also  the 
blessed  encouragement  of  the  scene  before  you. 
The  Lord  amidst  all  his  sufferings,  took  not  his 
thoughts  of  mercy  for  a  single  moment  from  his 
sinning  disciple. 

Be  assured  he  has  not  taken  his  merciful  regards 
from  you ;  he  is  still  looking  wistfully  and  affection- 


344 


LECTURE  VIII. 


ately  for  your  return.  He  did  not  wait  until  Peter 
looked  on  him  with  an  eye  of  penitence,  before  he 
looked  on  Peter  with  an  eye  of  pity.  He  does  not 
wait  until  you  repent,  he  freely  offers  his  M  prevent- 
ing grace"*  to  enable  you  to  repent.  He  does  not 
content  himself  with  calling  home  his  wandering 
sheep,  but  he  seeks  those  that  are  lost;  and  when 
he  has  found  them,  he  carries  them  home  "  on  his 
shoulders  rejoicing."  Can  you  really  believe  this 
without  saving  from  your  heart,  "  Draw  me,  and  I 
will  run  after  thee ;"  "  Turn  thou  us,  good  Lord, 
and  so  shall  we  be  turned?"  If  I  address  any 
whose  heart  convicts  him  that  by  life  and  conver- 
sation he  has  denied  him  whose  name  he  bears, 
(and  remember  that  every  forbidden  act  is  unques- 
tionably an  act  of  denial,)  to  him  I  would  most  af- 
fectionately say, — let  this  be  your  immediate  re- 
source; fix  your  thoughts,  and  your  hearts,  earnest- 
ly and  steadily  upon  your  Redeemer,  for  he,  and  he 
alone,  has  both  the  power  and  the  will,  to  restore 
your  soul,  and  to  reconcile  you  to  your  heavenly 
Father.  Let  this  be  your  instant,  fervent  prayer — 
Lord,  "  look  thou  upon  me,  and  be  merciful  unto 
me,  as  thou  usest  to  do  unto  those  that  love  thy 
name."    Your  wanderings  cannot  have  been  too 

*  See  the  Tenth  Article  of  our  Church. 


LECTURE  VIII. 


345 


wide,  your  sins  too  heinous,  your  denials  too  re- 
peated or  too  aggravated,  to  hinder  the  effect  of 
that  look  of  power,  that  look  of  guidance,  that  look 
of  love :  through  the  influence  of  divine  grace,  it 
will  not  only  speak  to  your  heart,  but  change  your 
heart,  and  bring  you,  in  penitence  and  contrition, 
back  to  the  fold  from  which  you  have  wandered. 

Observe,  in  conclusion,  the  immediate  effects  of 
Peter's  repentance:  "  he  went  out  and  wept  bitter- 
ly." He  no  longer  remained  among  the  enemies 
of  his  Lord;  he  instantly  forsook  a  scene  of  so 
much  temptation,  and  to  him  of  so  much  sin.  We 
are  not  again  told  that  he  continued  "  warming 
himself  in  the  high  priest's  palace,"  or  "  waiting  to 
see  the  end."  That  single  glance  of  power  from  the 
eye  of  his  Redeemer,  had  driven  Satan  from  his 
prey,  and  dissolved  the  chains  which  he  had  wound 
about  his  captive ;  the  "  snare  wras  broken,  and  he 
was  delivered." 

My  beloved  brethren,  if  you  are  really  in  ear- 
nest in  your  penitence,  this  also  will  be  your  course; 
you  will  immediately,  and  for  ever,  forsake  those 
scenes,  and  those  habits,  and  those  companions, 
who  have  induced  you  to  deny  your  Lord ;  cost 
what  it  may,  of  ease,  or  pleasure,  or  comfort, 
like  Peter,  you  will  instantly  go  out  from  them  ; 


346 


LECTURE  VIII. 


worlds  would  not  tempt  you  back,  to  tread  that 
path  of  danger  from  which,  by  the  preventing 
grace  of  God,  you  have  been  so  mercifully  extri- 
cated. But  although  the  first  proof,  this  was  not 
the  only  proof  of  Peter's  penitence.  "  He  went  out 
and  wept  bitterly;"  not  in  expiation  of  his  sin,  for 
all  the  tears  which  sinning,  suffering  mortality  has 
ever  shed,  are  utterly  unavailing  to  wash  away  the 
faintest  trace  of  guilt ;  he  wept  from  very  bitter- 
ness, from  anguish  of  soul  that  he  had  so  deeply  of- 
fended One,  so  gracious  and  so  merciful.  He  was 
assured  of  his  forgiveness,  for  that  look  had  told 
him  that  no  anger  lingered  in  that  pure  and  perfect 
bosom.  But  did  this  thought  arrest  his  tears?  No; 
it  was  this  which  bade  them  doubly  flow;  he 
could  hear  his  Master  say,  "  You  have  denied  me 
and  disgraced  me ;  the  tongue  of  my  friend  has 
wounded  me  far  more  deeply  than  all  the  thorns 
and  nails  of  my  enemies  ever  can ;  I  freely  forgive 
you,  I  have  prayed  for  you,  and  this  moment  de- 
monstrates that  I  have  not  prayed  in  vain  ;  you  have 
escaped  the  destroyer ;  go,  and  sin  no  more." 

My  Christian  brethren,  our  Lord  now  speaks  to 
you,  as  his  silent  glance  then  spoke  to  Peter.  He 
offers  you  a  free  and  full  forgiveness,  deeply  as  you 
have  wounded  him,  if  you  will  but  "  look  on  him 


LECTURE  VIII. 


347 


whom  you  have  pierced,  and  mourn  because  of 
him  :"  if  you  will  now,  like  Peter,  forsake  your  sins 
and  deeply  deplore  them,  you  shall  hear  of  them 
again  no  more  for  ever.  But  let  not  the  assurance 
of  the  Saviour's  pardon  diminish  the  tide  of  the 
sinner's  tears;  this  is  the  mourning  upon  which 
your  Lord  has  pronounced  a  blessing ;  this  is  the 
short-lived  sorrow  which  ushers  in  the  everlasting 
joy :  be  willing  with  a  broken  and  a  contrite  heart, 
now  "  to  go  forth  weeping,  bearing  precious  seed," 
and  the  word  of  your  God  is  pledged  to  you,  "  that 
you  shall  doubtless  come  again  with  rejoicing, 
bringing  your  sheaves  with  you." 


348 


LECTURE  IX. 


LECTURE  IX. 

JOHN  XXI  18. 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  when  thou  wast  young, 
thou  girdest  thyself,  and  walkedst  whither  thou  wouldest, 
but  when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt  stretch  out  thy 
hands,  and  another  shall  gird  thee,  and  carry  thee  whither 
thou  wouldest  not." 

At  the  close  of  the  last  Lecture,  we  beheld  Peter 
fully  convinced  of  the  guilt  of  his  distressing  act  of 
cowardice  and  apostacy,  and  going  forth,  in  the 
bitterness  of  his  anguish,  to  pour  into  the  bosom  of 
his  heavenly  Father,  the  confessions  of  a  broken 
and  contrite  heart.  Who  can  describe  the  feelings 
of  this  affectionate  disciple,  during  the  whole  of  the 
dreadful  day  which  succeeded  the  act  of  his  denial? 
that  day  which  saw  the  meek  and  perfect  Saviour 
nailed  to  the  cross,  a  spectacle  to  men  and  angels, 
of  the  infinity  of  the  love  of  God,  and  of  the  de- 
pravity of  man.  If  the  cries  of  the  infuriated  popu- 
lace, "  Crucify  him  I"  the  imprecations  of  the  priests 
and  elders,  the  wild  mockery  of  the  licentious  sol- 
diery, were  able  to  penetrate  the  place  of  Peter's 


LECTURE  IX. 


349 


retirement,  how  must  every  sound  have  added  ten- 
fold anguish,  to  his  bitter  lamentations ;  how  often 
must  he  have  felt,  while  hearing  these  dreadful  suf- 
ferings of  his  Divine  Master — "  I  have  added  to  the 
sorrows  of  this  man  of  grief;  I  have  at  least  im- 
planted one  sting  in  that  heart,  at  which  all  the 
fiery  darts  of  Satan  now  are  levelled ;  I,  who  have 
1  eaten  bread  with  him,  have  lifted  up  my  heel 
against  him.' "  How  deep  must  have  been  the  com- 
punction, how  overwhelming  the  sorrow,  which 
such  reflections  would  produce  in  such  a  heart  as 
Peter's ! 

No  evangelist  has  mentioned  the  name  of  Peter 
in  the  narrative  of  that  day  of  sorrows.  The  be- 
loved disciple  John,  took  his  station  beneath  the 
cross  of  his  suffering  Master ;  the  virgin  mother 
was  present  at  that  hour,  and  realized  the  prophecy, 
"  A  sword  shall  pierce  through  thine  own  heart 
^also."  The  women  who  came,  from  Galilee  were 
within  sight  of  that  sad  scene ;  but  of  Peter,  the 
zealous,  forward  Peter,  there  is  no  mention.  He 
would  not  again  expose  himself  to  his  spiritual 
enemies ;  he  would  no  longer,  trust  himself  to  his 
own  courage,  or  his  own  fidelity  ;  doubtless,  those 
hours  were  spent  in  sorrows,  which  the  world 
could  never  know,  and  in  heartfelt  communings 
30 


350 


LECTURE  IX. 


with  his  God,  which  the  world  could  not  under- 
stand. A  veil,  therefore,  has  been  drawn  across 
those  sacred  hours  by  all  the  evangelists.  It  is 
enough  to  know,  that  Peter's  tears,  and  prayers, 
went  up  as  a  memorial  before  God,  and  that  that 
gracious  Being,  who,  while  hanging  on  the 
accursed  tree,  could  bestow  the  rewards  and  in- 
heritances of  Paradise,  could  not  but  plead  suc- 
cessfully with  his  heavenly  Father,  for  the  returning 
sinner,  upon  whom,  even  in  the  very  hour  of  his 
fall,  Christ  himself  had  looked  with  pardoning 
love. 

"  Very  early  in  the  morning,"  says  St.  Mark, 
"  the  first  day  of  the  week,"  Mary  Magdalene,  and 
the  other  women,  came  unto  the  sepulchre,  so  little 
expecting  the  great  and  glorious  event  which  had 
occurred,  that  they  brought  sweet  spices  to  pre- 
serve that  body  from  decay,  which  had  already 
risen  triumphant  over  death  and  the  grave,  and, 
according  to  prophecy,  "  seen  no  corruption." 

It  was  at  this  visit  to  the  sepulchre,  that  an 
angel  from  heaven  appeared  to  them,  and  thus 
announced  the  fact,  for  which  they  were  so  utterly 
unprepared  :  "  Ye  seek  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  which 
was  crucified — he  is  risen ;  he  is  not  here." 

Time  would  fail  me  were  I  to  dwell  upon  the 


LECTURE  IX. 


351 


great  and  wondrous  truth  which  was  thus  pro- 
claimed;  the  seal  of  all  which  had  preceded  it; 
the  entire  accomplishment  of  the  prophecies  and 
the  types:  the  complete  demonstration  to  mankind 
that  God  the  Father,  had  fully  accepted  the  ransom 
which  God  the  Son,  had  so  freely  offered.  As 
soon  as  he  had  exclaimed  with  dying  lips,  "  It  is 
finished,"  the  great  work  of  redemption  is  complete, 
he  went  down  into  the  grave,  not  as  its  victim,  but 
as  its  Lord,  "  conquering  and  to  conquer,"  that  he 
might  set  his  foot  upon  the  serpent's  head,  even  in 
the  very  heart  of  his  own  dominions.  Had  Christ 
remained  within  the  noisome  walls  of  the  sepulchre, 
it  might  fairly  have  been  declared  that  he  had  been 
unable  to  discharge  the  infinite  weight  of  debt 
which  sinning  man  had  contracted ;  that  he  had 
been  foiled  in  those  labours  of  love,  and  that  the 
last  great  cry  upon  the  cross,  instead  of  being,  as 
it  truly  was,  the  conqueror's  shout  of  victory,  was 
merely  the  death-cry  of  a  suffering,  defeated  im- 
postor. The  very  fact,  therefore,  that  death  could 
not  hold  him ;  that  over  him,  Satan  and  the  grave 
possessed  no  power;  that  at  his  own  free  will,  he 
was  able  to  shake  from  him  those  chains  which 
mere  mortality  could  not  have  escaped,  established 
for  ever  these  most  blessed  truths — that  the  power 


352  LECTURE  IX. 

of  death  was  broken ;  the  might  of  Satan  crushed ; 
the  work  of  redemption  finished ;  and — blessed, 
thrice  blessed  consideration  ! — "  the  garments  of 
salvation"  fully  prepared  and  freely  offered  to 
every  believing  penitent  "  who  names  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  departs  from  iniquity." 

It  is  not,  however,  so  much  with  these  elevating 
subjects,  with  the  great  truth  announced  by  the 
angel  at  the  sepulchre,  that  we  are  at  present  en- 
gaged, as  with  the  merciful  manner  in  which  that 
truth  was  proclaimed:  "Go,  tell  his  disciples  and 
Peter,  that  he  is  risen  from  the  4ead."  How 
singularly  striking  is  this  message  of  the  heavenly 
minister !  We  should  not  have  been  surprised  had 
he  said,  Go,  tell  his  disciples  and  John,  whom 
our  Lord  so  dearly  loved,  or  his  sorrowing  mother, 
or  the  affectionate  Mary ;  but  that  Peter,  the  err- 
ing, fallen  Peter,  should  have  been  selected  as  of 
all  the  little  company  of  believers  the  most  deeply 
interested  in  this  great  truth,  the  only  individual,  to 
whom  an  express  message  should  be  transmitted,  is 
indeed  a  most  remarkable  and  most  affecting  in- 
stance of  that  u  love  which  beareth  all  things,  en- 
dureth  all  things,"  and  even  under  the  deepest 
provocations  "  never  faileth."  He  who  best  knows 
the  heart  of  man,  well  knew  that  Peter's  heart 


LECTURE  IX.  353 

was  bleeding  at  that  hour,  from  the  effects  of  his 
late  transgression  ;  and  he  also  knew,  that  no  balm 
could  be  applied  so  truly  healing  and  conso  latory, 
as  one  word  of  kindness  and  love  from  his  risen 
Master ;  therefore  did  our  Lord  select  the  sinning, 
repenting,  broken-hearted  Peter,  as  the  only  indivi- 
dual to  whom  lib  sent  a  particular  announcement, 
that  as  he  had  died  for  his  sins,  he  had  now  risen 
for  his  justification. 

My  brethren,  if  you  have  ever  felt  the  weight  of 
unforgiven  sin,  or  the  plague  of  your  own  hearts," 
the  misery,  I  might  almost  say,  the  agony,  and  the 
anguish,  of  having  offended  God,  grieved  his  Holy 
Spirit,  denied  by  your  words  or  actions  the  Lord 
your  Redeemer,  you  will  be  able  to  appreciate  the 
blessedness  of  that  short  message,  that  single  word 
of  kindness,  "  Tell  Peter  that  I  am  risen you 
will  yourselves  have  felt  that  there  is  no  such  cure 
for  a  spirit  wounded  by  transgression,  a  heart  bro- 
ken by  the  consciousness  of  sin,  as  one  word  of 
forgiveness  from  your  Redeemer  and  your  God.  I 
would  fain  believe  that  there  are  many  among  you, 
who,  having  themselves  experienced  the  blessedness 
of  such  an  act  of  mercy,  can  deeply  sympathize 
with  Peter;  you  who  have  prayed  in  the  words  of 
the  Psalmist,  "Lord,  pardon  my  sin,  for  it  is  great;" 
30* 


354 


LECTURE  IX. 


and  have  heard  from  the  lips  of  your  offended 
Maker,  "  I,  even  I,  am  he  that  blotteth  out  thy 
transgressions  for  mine  own  sake,  and  will  not  re- 
member thy  sins;"  you  who,  when  you  deserved 
and  expected  only  words  of  wrath,  have  found 
promises  of  mercy,  and  words  of  love,  carried 
home  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  your  grieving 
hearts;  you,  and  you  only,  can  tell  what  must 
have  been  the  joy  of  Peter,  at  finqyng  himself  still 
the  object  of  the  affectionate  recollection  of  his 
Lord,  at  learning  that  he  was  still  remembered  by 
name  as  one  who  was  written  in  the  Lamb's  book 
of  life. 

Pleasing  is  it  to  behold  in  the  Gospel  of  this 
day,*  the  natural  ardour  with  which  Peter  ran  to 
visit  the  empty  sepulchre;  and  not  content  with 
merely  looking  upon  these  vestiges  of  him,  who 
for  so  short  a  time  had  made  the  grave  his  bed, 
enters  at  once  into  the  cavern,  that  his  own  eyes 
might  see,  and  his  own  hands  handle,  all  that  now 
remained  on  earth  of  one  so  doubly  dear  to  him. 

But  we  may  not  dwell  upon  these  things ;  we 
must  hasten  forward  to  the  consideration  of  the 
last  meeting  which  sacred  history  has  bequeathed 
to  us,  of  the  penitent  apostle,  and  his  risen  Saviour; 

*  Preached  on  Easter  Sunday. 


LECTURE  IX. 


355 


that  interview  in  which  our  Lord  so  tenderly  re- 
proved, and  at  the  same  time  so  affectionately  in- 
structed Peter  in  his  future  conduct,  and  so  plainly 
predicted  his  future  fate. 

Peter  and  the  rest  of  his  disciples  had  departed 
unto  Galilee,  in  pursuance  of  our  Lord's  declara- 
tion, that  he  would  -manifest  himself  to  them  there, 
While  waiting  for  this  promised  interview,  so  for- 
getful do  they  appear  to  have  been  of  all  those 
brilliant  prospects  of  temporal  glory,  in  which  they 
had  lately  indulged,  that  they  are  actually  returned 
to  their  original  occupation,  and  are  to  be  found 
once  more  engaged  with  their  boats  and  their  nets. 
What  an  astonishing  instance  of  humility  in  men, 
to  whom  the  word  of  their  Lord  was  pledged, 
that  "  in  the  regeneration,  they  should  sit  upon 
twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel." 
While  engaged  in  the  laborious  occupation  to  which 
we  have  alluded,  our  Lord  appeared  to  them  stand- 
ing on  the  shore,  and  having  made  himself  known 
to  them  by  a  miracle,  we  are  informed  that  that 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  said  unto  Peter,  "  It  is 
the  Lord." 

What  a  moment  of  extreme  anxiety  must  not 
this  have  been  to  the  penitent  apostle  !  He  had, 
as  we  have  seen,  received  a  message  of  kindness 


356 


LECTURE  IX. 


from  his  forgiving  Master ;  he  was  conscious,  that 
his  repentance  was  earnest  and  sincere ;  still  it  was 
natural,  that  he  should  feel  that  there  was  a  most 
painful  uncertainty,  as  to  the  manner  in  which  he 
should  now  be  received.  My  brethren,  so  to  feel 
was  truly  in  the  course  of  nature,  but  it  was  not  in 
the  course  of  grace ;  it  is  a  weak  faith,  which  hesi- 
tates to  cast  itself  upon  the  infinite  compassion  of 
its  God,  when  seeking  him  through  "  the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life,"  which  he  has  ordained.  Such 
was  not  Peter's  faith  ;  his  heart  does  not  appear 
for  a  single  moment,  to  have  harboured  the  re- 
motest doubt  of  his  acceptance.  No  sooner  did  he 
hear  that  it  was  the  Lord,  than  without  an  instant's 
hesitation,  an  instant's  misgiving,  "girding  his 
fisher's  coat  around  him,"  "  he  cast  himself  into 
the  sea,  and  swam  to  the  shore,"  that  he  might  be 
the  first  to  throw  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  indulgent 
Master.  How  beautiful  an  instance,  of  the  actings 
of  a  truly  scriptural  faith !  Would  that  it  might 
be  realized,  in  the  experience  of  every  individual 
whom  we  now  address,  and  in  our  own  soul ! 
Does  the  revealed  word  of  God  assure  you  that, 
as  a  reconciled  penitent,  your  transgressions  are 
blotted  out,  your  sins  are  forgiven  1  Then  be  as- 
sured, that  you  are  not  honouring  your  Lord  and 


LECTURE  IX. 


357 


Saviour,  if  you  do  not  live  up  to  your  high  and 
holy  privileges;  if  you  still  keep  at  a  distance  from 
him ;  still  tremble  with  a  slavish  fear ;  still  follow 
him  afar  off,  and  with  a  sinking  heart.  This  was 
not  the  spirit,  wrhich  influenced  Peter.  He  knew 
that  his  Lord  had  looked  upon  him  in  mercy ;  he 
knew  that  he  had  deeply  grieved  and  bitterly  wept 
for  sin  :  he  knew  that  he  should  meet  with  a  kind 
and  merciful  reception.  These  were  with  him 
matters  of  positive  knowledge,  not  of  faint  and 
uncertain  hope;  and,  therefore,  in  the  fullest  de- 
pendence upon  the  infinity  of  his  Master's  love,  he 
burst  through  the  opposing  element,  to  cast  himself 
at  his  feet.  Men,  in  their  wisdom,  may  call  this 
presumption ;  but  be  assured,  it  goes  by  a  far  dif- 
ferent name,  in  the  courts  of  heaven.  Never  is 
God  more  highly  honoured,  than  when  you  most 
implicitly  depend,  humbly  and  scripturally,  upon 
that  covenanted  love,  which  is  the  brightest  attri- 
bute of  his  all-perfect  character;  when  you  rely 
the  most  entirely,  build  the  most  largely,  upon  the 
simple  declarations  of  his  promises  in  Christ  Jesus ; 
and  whatever  have  been  your  sins,  your  denials,  or 
your  wanderings,  having  truly  lamented  and  for- 
saken them,  you  draw  near,  cleansed  in  the  blood 
of  Jesus,  and  cast  yourselves  with  the  most  child- 
like confidence,  into  the  arms  of  his  mercy. 


358 


LECTURE  IX. 


But  tenderly  as  our  Lord  dealt  with  his  penitent 
and  humbled  disciple,  it  was  necessary,  for  the  sake 
of  others  as  well  as  for  the  correction  of  Peter  him- 
self, that  he  should  manifest  before  his  brethren 
the  present  state  of  his  feelings  as  regarded  that 
Saviour,  whom  he  had  so  lately  and  so  disgracefully 
renounced.  Three  times  had  he  publicly  denied  his 
Master,  and  therefore,  three  times  must  he  as  pub- 
licly declare  his  renewed  feelings  of  gratitude  and 
love.  "  So  when  they  had  dined,"  says  the  evan- 
gelist, "  Jesus  saith  to  Simon  Peter,  Simon,  son  of 
Jonas,  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ?"  Thou  hast 
once  said,  "  though  all  men  should  be  offended  be- 
cause of  thee,  yet  will  not  I."  Dost  thou  still  assert 
this  dangerous  pre-eminence  ?  Peter  saith  unto 
him,  "  Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee/' 
He  does  not  again  hazard  a  reply,  as  to  the  relative 
strength  of  his  affections :  I  know  that  I  love  thee, 
but  I  dare  not  now  venture  to  affirm,  that  I  love 
thee  more  than  these.  Again  the  painful  question 
was  repeated,  "  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou 
me?"  "  He  saith  unto  him,  Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest 
that  I  love  thee  V  Yet  a  third  time,  is  the  inquiry 
urged  upon  him  ;  then,  as  we  read,  "  Peter  was 
grieved  because  he  said  unto  him  a  third  time, 
Lovest  thou  me?"   He  replied,  "  Lord,  thou  know- 


LECTURE  IX. 


359 


est  all  things,  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee ;  Jesus 
saith  unto  him" — prove  the  reality  of  thy  love  by 
the  active  sincerity  of  thy  obedience — "  Feed  my 
sheep." 

Invaluable  to  the  Christian  is  this  brief  narrative, 
because  it  sets  before  him  in  the  plainest  and  most 
engaging  manner,  the  method  in  which  our  blessed 
Redeemer  accosts  not  Peter  alone,  but  every  truly 
penitent  believer. 

Consider,  my  brethren,  the  application  of  it  to 
yourselves.  The  Lord,  from  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
has  beheld  your  denials  and  your  sins;  he  has  also, 
in  many  instances,  we  trust,  beheld  your  penitence 
and  your  tears ;  and  he  now  asks  you  all  individu- 
ally, the  penitent  and  the  impenitent,  "  Lovest  thou 
me  V1  Here  is  the  great  test  of  your  repentance  ; 
here  is  the  proof  whether  you  have  "  been  accepted 
in  the  beloved  ;"  for  to  whom  much  is  given  the  same 
loveth  much. 

How  will  you  then  answer  the  inquiry  ?  Care- 
fully examine  your  own  hearts,  and  ascertain  whe- 
ther you  possess  this  feeling  of  grateful,  fervent,  ac- 
tive love  to  the  Redeemer ;  without  which  there  can 
be  no  pardon,  no  saving  union  with  God  the  Son,  no 
relationship  to  God  the  Father ;  for  as  our  Lord 
himself  most  unequivocally  declared  to  the  Jews, 


360 


LECTURE  IX. 


"  If  God  were  your  Father,  ye  would  love  Me."  If 
you  have  been,  as  too  many  are,  in  the  habit  of  con- 
sidering all  love  to  Christ  as  bordering  upon  enthu- 
siasm or  fanaticism,  or  originating  not  in  the  sober 
revelations  of  God,  but  in  the  heated  imaginations 
of  visionary  men,  how  will  you  reply  to  this  1 
Three  times  do  you  find  your  Lord  eliciting  the 
state  of  Peter's  mind  by  this  single  inquiry,  "  Lovest 
thou  me?"  Is  it  not  then  our  bounden  duty,  as  the 
ministers  of  Christ,  often  and  earnestly  to  inquire 
of  you,  "  Do  you  indeed  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ?" 

If  you  do  not,  he  has  himself  assured  you  that 
you  are  not  a  child  of  God :  if  you  are  not  a  child 
of  God,  you  are  not  ripening  for  that  blissful  eternity 
which  will  be  spent  by  his  children  in  the  many 
mansions  of  their  Father's  house :  if  you  are  not  a 
child  of  God,  you  must  be  a  child  of  Satan,  for  there 
are  but  two  families  into  which  all  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  are  divided ;  and  if  your  title  be  not  clear- 
ly made  out  to  the  one,  you  must  indisputably  be 
enrolled  in  the  other.  Are  you  then  conscious  of 
this  love  to  a  crucified  Saviour  1  Can  you  really 
say  with  Peter,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things ; 
thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee  V  Can  you  even  say, 
"  Thou  knowest  that  I  desire  to  love  thee  ?"    "  If 


LECTURE  IX. 


361 


ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments,"  is  a  proof 
which  Christ  himself  has  offered  of  this  important 
fact.  Look,  therefore,  into  your  hearts  for  the  good 
tree ;  look  into  your  lives  for  its  invariable  fruits. 
They  will  not,  they  cannot  be  wanting,  if  the  living 
germ  be  within ;  if  they  be  not  there,  it  is  sufficient 
to  demonstrate  that  the  principle  is  absent,  that  the 
constraining  love  of  Christ  is  not  shed  abroad  in 
your  hearts,  by  the  Spirit  which  he  alone  can  give 
unto  you. 

Time  warns  me,  that  we  must  bring  this  instruc- 
tive narrative  to  a  conclusion:  "  Verily,  verily,"  said 
our  Lord  to  Peter,  "  when  thou  wast  young,  thou 
girdedst  thyself  and  walkedst  whither  thou  wouldest ; 
but  when  thou  shalt  be  old  thou  shalt  stretch  forth 
thine  hands,  and  another  shall  gird  thee,  and  carry 
thee  whither  thou  wouldest  not.    Follow  me." 

How  fully  this  admirable  apostle  obeyed  the  in- 
junction, the  last  he  ever  received  from  the  lips  of 
his  Divine  Master,  every  account  which  has  been 
transmitted  to  us,  most  abundantly  establishes. 
Next  to  St.  Paul,  there  was  no  apostle  who,  by  the 
value  of  his  writings,  the  variety  of  his  labours,  the 
exemplary  holiness  and  usefulness  of  his  life  so 
closely  followed  the  footsteps  of  his  Lord,  as  Simon 
Peter.  There  was  no  apostle  who  appeared  from 
31 


362 


LECTURE  IX. 


this  hour  so  remarkably,  by  the  power  of  divine 
grace,  to  have  overcome  the  natural  frailties  of  his 
temper  and  disposition,  as  St.  Peter.  He  had,  as 
we  have  seen,  before  been  so  much  the  victim  of  a 
faithless  timidity,  that  he  had  denied  his  Master, 
from  the  fear  of  the  high  priest's  servants.  He  now, 
in  the  presence  of  assembled  multitudes,  at  the  peril 
of  his  life,  unhesitatingly  declared,  "  Let  all  the 
house  of  Israel  know  assuredly,  that  God  had  made 
that  same  Jesus  whom  ye  have  crucified,  both 
Lord  and  Christ."  He  had  before  defended  him- 
self, almost  with  rudeness,  when  his  Divine  Master 
had  predicted  his  denial  and  desertion.  In  after 
ages,  he  humbly  and  silently  permitted  Paul  "  to 
withstand  him  to  the  face."  Those  were  among 
the  unquestionable  evidences  of  his  love  to  his 
Lord :  he  became  humble,  meek,  loving,  and  obe- 
dient ;  inferior  to  no  one  in  every  good  and  perfect 
work,  in  labours  of  love,  in  the  conversion  of  souls. 

Years  pass  away,  and  we  are  warned  by  the 
history  before  us,  that  there  is  no  escape  from  man's 
last  enemy ;  that  although  we  may  live  long,  and 
labour  usefully,  and  glorify  our  Redeemer  unceas- 
ingly, by  thought,  word,  and  deed,  there  is  no  total 
reprieve  from  that  sentence,  which  sin,  the  sin  of 


LECTURE  IX. 


363 


Adam,  the  sin  of  our  own  souls,  has  passed  upon  us 
all — «  The  wages  of  sin  is  death." 

"  When  thou  art  old,"  said  our  Lord,  "  thou  shalt 
stretch  forth  thy  hand,  and  another  shall  gird  thee, 
and  carry  thee  whither  thou  wouldest  not."  How 
literally  fulfilled,  the  eldest  historian  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  has  sufficiently  attested,  since  he  relates, 
that  about  thirty  years  after  the  death  of  his  Divine 
Master,  the  aged  Peter  suffered  martyrdom  at 
Rome;  requesting  as  the  only  favour  which  he 
would  demand  at  the  hands  of  men,  that  he  might 
be  crucified  with  his  head  downwards,  from  a  feel- 
ing of  the  most  unfeigned  humility,  that  the  fate  en- 
dured by  the  Lord  Jesus,  was  too  honourable  for 
his  frail  and  sinning  servant.  It  is  also  related, 
and  we  mention  it  to  mark  the  spirit  which  influ- 
enced his  latest  breath,  that  Peter  first  followed  his 
wife  to  the  stake,  and  that  the  last  words  of  encou- 
ragement with  which  he  cheered  her  departing 
spirit  were,  "  Remember  the  Lord." 

Such  was  the  close  of  the  life  of  that  eminent 
apostle  upon  whose  history  we  have  been  comment- 
ing— a  most  painful,  degrading,  dreadful  death. 
How  widely  different  from  the  calm  and  placid 
scene  from  which  the  spirit  of  the  patriarch,  whose 
life  we  last  year  reviewed,  was  permitted  to  take 


364 


LECTURE  IX. 


its  peaceful  flight !  We  behold  the  venerable  Jacob 
lying  on  his  bed,  a  bed  indeed  of  death,  but  scarce- 
ly either  of  sickness  or  of  pain  ;  surrounded  by  his 
children  and  his  grandchildren,  beloved,  revered  and 
respected  :  ever}'  effort  which  the  most  affectionate 
attention  could  make  to  smooth  his  dying  pillow, 
every  word  which  he  spoke  treasured  up  in  the  hearts 
of  those  around  him,  and  bequeathed  to  the  Church 
of  Christ  to  the  latest  posterity ;  and  at  last  his  pla- 
cid spirit  gently  loosened  from  its  earthly  resting- 
place,  and  wafted  into  the  bosom  of  his  God,  with- 
out an  effort  or  a  pang. 

We  behold,  on  the  contrary,  the  aged  Peter  fast- 
ened to  the  cross  amid  the  rabble  rout  of  pagan 
multitudes  ;  his  head  hanging  in  the  dust ;  his  hands 
and  feet  transfixed  with  nails;  his  whole  frame  con- 
vulsed with  agony  ;  his  dying  testimony  given  to  the 
winds,  or  heard  only  to  be  the  scoff  and  jeer  of  his 
unfeeling  enemies;  no  pitying  friend  to  wipe  his 
brow,  to  quench  his  burning  thirst,  or  to  suggest 
one  word  of  consolation  to  his  departing  spirit ;  and 
when  the  tortured  body  could  endure  no  longer,  the 
soul  torn  from  its  earthly  tabernacle  by  that  rude 
wrench  at  which  humanity  shudders  !  How  widely 
different  were  the  ends  of  these,  the  beloved  chil- 
dren of  the  same  Father,  the  redeemed  servants  of 


LECTURE  IX. 


365 


the  same  Saviour  !  and  yet  are  we  sure  that  Peter, 
amid  the  horrors  of  the  cross,  was  as  effectually 
supported,  as  entirely  comforted  by  the  felt  pre- 
sence of  his  Divine  Master,  as  Jacob  upon  his  bed 
of  down. 

Christian  brethren,  what  must  be  the  power  of 
that  principle  of  faith  in  a  crucified  Redeemer, 
which  can  thus  sustain  and  comfort  frail  mortality, 
11  when  the  flesh  and  heart  faileth  V  What  must 
be  the  might  of  that  Saviour,  who  can,  under  the 
most  terrific  circumstances,  thus  for  his  believing 
children  draw  the  sting  of  man's  last  enemy  ?  We 
would  pray,  if  it  be  the  will  of  your  heavenly  Fa- 
ther, that  death  may  so  gently  approach  every  indi- 
vidual whom  we  now  address,  that  you  may  not 
hear  the  rustling  of  his  wings,  until  you  find  him  at 
your  side:  but  you  must  have  seen  from  the  exam- 
ple before  you,  that  he  may  also  come,  even  to  the 
dearest  disciple  of  your  Lord,  in  a  far  different 
manner,  armed  with  terrors  at  which  the  strongest 
heart  must  quail.  Do  you  not  then  desire  a  pro- 
tector who  can,  under  every  imaginable  circum- 
stance, vanquish  this  formidable  enemy,  and  hold 
you  harmless  from  his  most  dangerous  assaults/ 
Such  a  protector,  such  a  saviour,  such  a  friend,  is 
this  day  offered  you.    Cast  yourselves  unreservedly 


366 


LECTURE  IX. 


upon  him.  Seek  in  him  your  "  righteousness,  sanc- 
tification,  and  redemption  ;"  deny  yourselves ;  take 
up  your  cross  and  follow  him,  and  he  will  be  to 
you,  all  that  he  ever  was  to  Peter — your  guide  in 
health,  your  joy  in  sickness,  your  hope  in  death;  for 
he  has  promised  to  walk  with  you  through  that 
dark  valley ;  with  his  rod  and  his  staff,  to  comfort 
you,  to  struggle  for  you,  to  fight  for  you,  to  van- 
quish for  you,  until  you  shall  be  proclaimed  "  more 
than  conquerors  through  him  that  loved  you,"  and 
shall  ascend  with  Peter  to  the  unspeakable  joys  at 
God's  right  hand. 


THE  END. 


f 


